Pediatric Diabetes Surge In Mississippi: Doctors Concerned COVID-19 Is To Blame
Dr. Jessica Lilley is a pediatric endocrinologist at the Mississippi Center for Advanced Medicine. For eight years she has seen children from across the state for pediatric diabetes and other hormonal issues. With each passing month of the pandemic, Lilley has grown increasingly concerned that COVID-19 is linked to a massive increase in new diagnoses of pediatric diabetes throughout Mississippi.
Lilley is not alone in her observation. In conferring with other pediatric endocrinologists across the state and nation, Lilley says the spike in new cases is widespread. We are all seeing an increase in type 1 diabetes diagnoses as well as type 2 diabetes diagnoses. Those of us who tracked it have noticed anywhere from a 30% to 40% increase compared to (2019), she told the Mississippi Free Press in a series of interviews in August and September.
The full measure of childhood diabetes emerging during the COVID-19 pandemic is still unknown. But experts are deeply concerned across the nation. In late June 2021, at the 81st Scientific Sessions of the American Diabetes Association, pediatric endocrinologist Dr. Brynn E. Marks of Childrens National Hospital warned of a staggering increase in cases of type 2 diabetes, as well as an increase in the severity of (the diseases) presentation.
Researchers presenting at the conference reported a doubling of youth hospitalization rates for type 2 diabetes, compared with the pre-pandemic period. Researchers in that study hypothesized that the indirect effects of quarantines, closures, and unemployment may have exacerbated the incidence and severity of the disease.
Read more: https://www.mississippifreepress.org/15930/pediatric-diabetes-surge-in-mississippi-doctors-concerned-covid-19-is-to-blame/