▲ Diabetes
"Both the children and the teachers would ask me how I got diabetes at such a young age, and I didn't know how to explain it. So, as my mom taught me, I told them, 'It happened just like a traffic accident.'"
A first-year high school student named Lim, whom we met at a Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) academy, was diagnosed with diabetes in his first year of elementary school.
Until he was in kindergarten, he ate and lived without any restrictions, but as soon as he entered elementary school, he had to start watching his diet due to the disease.
Contracting the disease at such a young age also hindered his school life.
"I was reluctant to talk about my illness, so I would go to the school infirmary alone to take my injections," Lim recalled. "Since middle school, I have been open about it to my friends, but it was difficult when I was in elementary school."
According to the KDCA on Thursday (July 9), children are primarily affected by type 1 diabetes.
Type 1 diabetes is an autoimmune disease in which the pancreatic beta cells that produce insulin are destroyed by the immune system, resulting in very little or no insulin secretion.
Patients must be prescribed insulin injections periodically.
"Cells need insulin to use glucose," explained Lee Young-ah, a professor of pediatrics at Seoul National University Children's Hospital. "Insulin acts as a key that lets glucose into the cells, and (in type 1 diabetes), that key has suddenly disappeared."
"I wish teachers and students could understand what the disease is, what causes it, and what measures need to be taken for children who are diagnosed in elementary school," Lim emphasized. "If there is even one patient, I hope the school can show some consideration."
The lack of understanding surrounding pediatric diabetes stems from the fact that the hardships these children face are not visible to others.
Kim Mi-young, representative of the Korean Type 1 Diabetes Association, whose child was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes at 36 months old, shared her frustration: "Even though I've said so many times that this disease cannot be cured, people around me still ask, 'Is your child getting better these days?' While they mean well, it sometimes makes me feel like they aren't actually interested in us."
Although they may look perfectly healthy on the outside, type 1 diabetes can be extremely dangerous for children if not managed properly.
Type 1 diabetes also has a high mortality rate due to diabetic ketoacidosis, an acute complication.
While the mortality rate for ketoacidosis drops to less than 1% with timely and appropriate treatment, it can rise to over 5% depending on the patient's age and the underlying cause.
The Korea National Institute of Health under the KDCA plans to establish the first national-level pediatric and adolescent diabetes registry to prevent long-term complications and develop evidence-based prevention and treatment strategies tailored to Koreans.
By forming a network with 42 institutions nationwide, they plan to track 5,000 patients over five years until 2030 to build a national registry, which will serve as the basis for national standard clinical guidelines and prevention and management strategies.
"The most important thing regarding pediatric and adolescent diabetes is improving awareness," said Professor Lee Hae-sang of Ajou University Hospital. "People are very familiar with diabetes that occurs due to obesity or aging, but many do not realize exactly what type 1 diabetes is."
"I hope this research will help people better understand that type 1 diabetes is an autoimmune disease," he added.
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