Rise in diabetes A&E admissions

There has been a year-on-year rise in the number of emergency admissions among children with type 1 diabetes, according to latest figures.

There were 3,317 cases of children admitted from A&E with diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA) – a life-threatening complication brought on by hyperglycaemia – in the 12 months from April 2006 to March 2007. This represents an 8% increase on the 3,073 in the year before and an even more significant jump from the 2,617 cases in 2002–2003.

'With increased awareness and education, and more investment from the NHS in specialist paediatric diabetes care, the number of emergency admissions could be dramatically reduced,' said Douglas Smallwood, chief executive of the charity Diabetes UK, which released the figures.