TORONTO-A few months after the pandemic, doctors including Elizabeth Sellers noticed a worrying trend-more and more children are being admitted to hospitals suddenly and seriously. It is called diabetic ketoacidosis.

Also known as DKA, it is a life-threatening emergency that occurs in patients with undiagnosed type 1 diabetes.

Sellers told CTV News: “I remember very clearly that during a long weekend in the summer, four children had new-onset diabetes and all had severe DKA.” “So this really reminded me. ‘Wow, I think we have a problem here.'”

The seller is one of the researchers in a new study that investigated eight pediatric hospitals in Canada and noticed a sharp increase in DKA cases during the pandemic.Research results are published in the journal Pediatrics and Child Health In April.

“When we looked at the first four and a half months of the COVID era (i.e. from March to August last year), we found that 55% of children newly diagnosed with type 1 diabetes [with] Diabetic ketoacidosis, compared to 38% […] The year before the pre-COVID era,” Sellers said.

Researchers found that not only more children developed DKA, but the condition was worse.

Sellers said: “If they do show up in diabetic ketoacidosis, then they are in a more serious state of acidosis.”

She explained that nearly half of the children who developed DKA during the study had severe DKA.

During the same period in 2019, only “33% of children [with] DKA is in severe DKA. “

So what is DKA? This is when the cells cannot process glucose for use as fuel. Instead, fat is quickly broken down into another fuel, which, if accumulated, will make the blood acidic.

This is what happened to Ainsley MacPherson, now 10 months old, who lives with her family in British Columbia.

Her mother Megan Black (Megan Black) told CTV News that they initially archived the symptoms they knew now as part of her growing up.

Black said: “She peeed in the diaper at night and during the day. This is new to her and she drinks more.” “I check the six-ounce bottle very frequently throughout the day. This is for her. It’s also new.”

Then, one morning, Ainsley woke up and was covered by vomit, which made her parents raise the red flag.

“We realized something was wrong,” Black said. “I took her out, put her in the bathtub, and washed her all. When she was in the bathtub, she started to turn a little bit blue. Her hands and feet started to turn a little purple-red, and they were wrapped around her lips. .

“This is terrible for mom and dad.”

Ainsley was taken to the emergency room and then airlifted to the intensive care unit. The blood sugar level was many times higher than normal.

“She has a high sugar content,” Black said. “I think her initial sugar or blood sugar was 44 or 45, which is really high. For her age group, they should be between 6 and 8 years old.”

The whole family is blind.

Black said: “No one in our family has type 1 diabetes, which is not what I expected.” “So it was a shock to find out that my baby on vacation has diabetes.”

Like Ainsley, those who are quickly diagnosed receive insulin therapy for diabetes, and the problem is resolved before DKA becomes severe. Now, her parents, like any type 1 diabetes patient, regularly monitor her blood sugar levels.

If children with diabetes are not diagnosed early enough and they have DKA, they may have cognitive problems due to swelling of the brain. In rare cases, DKA can be fatal.

Dr. Shazhan Ahmed of the Children’s Hospital of British Columbia told CTV News: “These children have become very, very heavy due to severe dehydration and have accumulated acid in their blood.”

“And because of the severity of this disease, [they] The level of consciousness decreased. Very very dehydrated and almost always requires admission to the pediatric intensive care unit. “

Canada is not the only country that has observed an increase in the number of children with DKA. Germany and Italy also reported the same trend of more severe DKA manifestations in children.

Doctors suspect that pandemics, isolation and fear may have played a role in children who were not diagnosed with diabetes before the advent of DKA.

“You can imagine the family’s fear of sending their children to the hospital [during the pandemic],” Ahmed said. “Therefore, delay in taking your child to the doctor will definitely affect the incidence of diabetic ketoacidosis. “

Researchers also suspect that virtual visits may not allow doctors to detect more subtle signs of early diabetes, and if left untreated, it may lead to DKA.

According to this new study, Canadian doctors urge parents not to ignore the early signs of type 1 diabetes:

• thirst

• Need to go to the bathroom more frequently

• Lose weight quickly

Sellers said: “These are signs of high blood sugar. In children, these are signs that require urgent observation.”

Ahmed (Ahmed) explained that although most children recover from DKA, more and more studies have shown that DKA may have long-term effects on children’s brain development.

Ahmed said: “It is very important that we take measures to prevent diabetic ketoacidosis and diagnose diabetes early in children who are sick.”

Her mother said that Ainsley can now control her type 1 diabetes and is “prospering.”

“The insulin pump is working. It regulates the sugar.”

Black hopes that her daughter’s story can provide a life-saving example for other families, so that they can take symptoms seriously and seek medical attention quickly.

“I really think that for families, young parents, babies and toddlers, and even just toddlers, it is important to know that they are not just babies, they are at the peak of their growth. This is very important. Her drinking is Because they are growing,” she said.

“Sometimes it can be more serious […] What happened. “

She added that parents should take any sudden signs of illness as a huge warning signal.

“in order to [Ainsley], It was actually overnight,” Black said. “The night before, she was very healthy, was crawling around, very happy, fooling around, and then, […] After 12 hours, she was drowsy, depressed and very sick. “

When she returned to her third grade teaching class, she said she will now look for these signs among students to ensure that if another child is in pain, she can help catch it.

One thing that helped solve the problem was that when she started to get sick, the family took Ainsley to the hospital very quickly.

Black said: “Because of the COVID and the pandemic, I never thought of not going to the hospital.” “Immediately, we knew wherever she was, we had to go where to get her to check out. But I did think that it would be A good explanation for the increase in DKA cases is that people are skeptical of entering the hospital because they think they will be infected with COVID.”

Doctors want patients and parents to know that in times of crisis, it is important to seek medical services, especially when we are dealing with a disease. If we ignore the disease, the situation will be worse.

“The goal is to prevent DKA by diagnosing diabetes early in the disease, so that children no longer suffer from DKA, prevent them from entering the pediatric intensive care unit, and the family suffering from such a severely ill child’s trauma is prevented,” Aiha Mead said.

“Based on research from around the world, we are confident in achieving this goal in Canada.”