Are you sending your type 1 diabetic children back to school?

[SpringSunshineandTulips]

I was planning to but having a really down day today and wondering if I’m being silly? Her mental health is suffering and she really needs to go back but ....... What are you planning to do?

The UK conclusion is strange. The evidence from other countries around the world (not just the US CDC) suggests it's type 2 that's the highest risk. If covid's a vascular disease, which seems likely, that makes sense.

I think the UK type 1 deaths were in older patients (generally over 60). I suspect age is the factor in those cases.

Potentially type 1 is an increased risk (less so than type 2) but it looks like that's mainly with over 40s.

That said, I completely understand OP's concerns. When it's your own child any risk can seem too much.

*My DS has an HBA1C of

@SheepandCow

The UK conclusion is strange. The evidence from other countries around the world (not just the US CDC) suggests it's type 2 that's the highest risk. If covid's a vascular disease, which seems likely, that makes sense.

I think the UK type 1 deaths were in older patients (generally over 60). I suspect age is the factor in those cases.

Potentially type 1 is an increased risk (less so than type 2) but it looks like that's mainly with over 40s.

That said, I completely understand OP's concerns. When it's your own child any risk can seem too much.

I haven't seen any evidence that suggests that type 1 is less of a risk factor than type 2. More people with type 2 are dying because a) there are more people with type 2 b) the population with type 2 is skewed older and c) the population with type 2 has more co-morbidities like obesity.

The standardised ratios for cardiovascular disease are actually nearly twice as high in people with type one diabetes rather than type two.

I'm not trying to argue that a child with type one is more at risk than an adult with type two. The risks for a child with type one that have been seen so far appear to be low, with DKA as the main risk, as it is with any illness.

So if she got it she’d be on a Covid ward with other Covid patients of all ages? I didn’t think of that. I thought she’d have her diabetes nurses on hand to keep an eye on her as well as me.

[quote AbsentmindedWoman]*My DS has an HBA1C of

I don't know if this will reassure you or not but I have type 1 diabetes and I also currently have coronavirus (positive test on Thursday). I feel no different from usual and am asymptomatic. It hasn't affected my blood sugar control at all which is a surprise to me.
In your place I would send her back. To anybody under 40, particularly with well controlled diabetes, the increase in risk is very very small whereas as I think there would be a much bigger risk to her mental health by not sending her.

@SpringSunshineandTulips

So if she got it she’d be on a Covid ward with other Covid patients of all ages? I didn’t think of that. I thought she’d have her diabetes nurses on hand to keep an eye on her as well as me.

I think it's worth asking her DSN what the protocol would be in your area.

The UK conclusion is strange. The evidence from other countries around the world (not just the US CDC) suggests it's type 2 that's the highest risk. If covid's a vascular disease, which seems likely, that makes sense.

It really is not strange at all.

Type 1 compromises vascular health. Microvascular changes can be ticking away in the background for years, not really causing any trouble unless an extra variable (such as covid) comes into play.

After 10 years, most people (including children and teens) will have a degree of background retinopathy (slight changes at the back of the eye) visible at their yearly eye screening. This is not a problem at all in and of itself, it's just what happens with duration of disease.

We are now beginning to realise though that there are frequent correlations with similar amounts of microvascular changes in the kidneys, and the heart. So much so that there are studies to see if people at risk for cardiovascular disease can be caught at a very early stage (giving better chances of good outcomes) via eye appointments in future.

Anyway - the point of that is that all diabetics are vulnerable to vascular disease. We still do not know enough about what exactly covid does to the vascular system, but reading the accounts of people experiencing chest pain or needing blood thinners months after having covid - people with diabetes need to be cautious.

Dying isn't the only bad outcome here. As a T1D I don't want to put my already compromised vascular system under more strain from a virus that is causing not insignificant vascular problems in healthy, fit people.

"Dying isn't the only bad outcome here. As a T1D I don't want to put my already compromised vascular system under more strain from a virus that is causing not insignificant vascular problems in healthy, fit people."

Yes, the kidney issues experienced by some with covid are also a concern.

On a positive note, I've read that they haven't observed.a correlation between the paediatric inflammatory syndrome and type one diabetes.

@Vanillaradio that is reassuring. Very much so. There’s a lot of scary stuff out there as detailed on this thread which really makes me wonder what to do but you having first hand experience does reassure me. I hope you continue to do well.