Type 1 diabetes with onset in childhood (0-14.9 years) represents one of the most frequent chronic diseases in children and young adults. Norway has one of the highest incidences of childhood onset type 1 diabetes in the world. Before introduction of insulin therapy in 1922, few children survived more than one to two years after clinical onset. When insulin came available, a major shift occurred in the distribution of causes of death in type 1 diabetic patients away from diabetic coma, which dominated the pre-insulin era, to renal and cardiac diseases. The disease is related to a significant burden to society and patients because most cases require lifelong treatment with insulin as well as day-to-day monitoring. Type 1 diabetes also confers increased risk of severe late complications such as renal failure, blindness, amputations, heart disease and stroke. Despite advances in diabetes treatment, type 1 diabetes is still associated with considerable premature mortality resulting from acute and chronic complications of diabetes and an increase in mortality at every age. Although the main cause of death in type 1 diabetes is long-term complications, an excess death rate has also been reported in subjects with short duration without signs of long-term complications.
Long-term mortality in a nationwide cohort of childhood-onset type 1 diabetic patients in Norway