Childhood diabetes 'more likely in winter'

Diabetes UK said a study found correlation between winter and the onset of Type 1 diabetes after studying data on 31,000 children from 105 diabetes centres across 53 countries.

Diagnosis at 28 centres peaked in the season, while 33 among the 42 centres that showed the seasonal trend had troughs in the summer.

The trend was more common in boys and both sexes from older age groups between 5 to 14 years old.

Elena Moltchanova, the lead author of the study and a statistician at the National Institute for Health and Welfare, Helsinki, said: “Numerous reasons suggested include a seasonal variation in people’s levels of blood glucose and insulin, seasonal viral infections, the fact that young people tend to eat more and do less physical activity during winter months and, similarly, that summer holidays provide a rest from school stress and more opportunity to play outdoors.”

The study also showed that diabetes centres located further away from the equator were more likely to register more new cases during winter.

The findings were published in the journal Diabetic Medicine.

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