Neonatal diabetes is diabetes diagnosed before the age of 6 months. How is diabetes mellitus in a newborn baby diagnosed? What is its treatment? What are its causes?

Neonatal diabetesis diabetes diagnosed before the age of 6 months. Until recently, infants with diabetes were treated as patients with classic autoimmune type 1 diabetes. It is now known that they constitute a separate group, and the form of their disease is referred to as neonatal diabetes.

There are two types of neonatal diabetes - they are:

  • transient neonatal diabetes mellitus(TNDM), which usually disappears a few or several weeks after the diagnosis
  • cneonatal diabetes mellitus(PNDM, permanent neonatal diabetes mellitus), which is permanent and requires lifelong treatment

Neonatal diabetes - causes

Neonatal diabetes is a type of monogenic diabetes that results from the inheritance of one or more mutations within a single gene.

Almost all monogenic diabetes mellitus in children is the result of mutations in the genes that regulate the functions of the β cells of the pancreas, which is responsible for the secretion of insulin.

It is known that about 50 percent. persistent diabetes mellitus in newborns is caused by an activating mutation in the KCNJ 11 gene.

Neonatal diabetes - symptoms

Children with permanent diabetes of newborns are characterized by low birth weight, severe hyperglycemia, often with concomitant metabolic acidosis.

Neonatal diabetes - diagnosis

The diagnosis of various forms of neonatal diabetes can be made on the basis of the results of genetic tests. In the case of persistent diabetes, these should include looking for a mutation in the KCNJ11 gene.

Carbohydrate disorders that appear so early in life may result not only from persistent neonatal diabetes, but also from type 1 diabetes, transient neonatal diabetes or MODY diabetes. The research allows us to answer the question of what type of diabetes we are dealing with.

Diabetes in newborns - treatment

In the majority of patients with KCNJ11 gene mutations, therapy with derivatives ofsulfonylurea, which is an effective and safe treatment, and is an alternative to insulin treatment.

Rapid diagnosis enables the correct treatment of the child and avoids severe, life-threatening metabolic disorders.

Category:

Diabetes