A study finds that kids who have asthma and diabetes have an especially difficult time maintaining their blood sugar level. The combination of the two conditions results in complications with both of them. There are some questions about the accuracy of this study, but, it is still something for parents of kids with these special needs to keep in mind.
A study was done by researchers at Kaiser Permanente Southern California, and was led by Mary Helen Black. They found that 11% of kids who have diabetes also have asthma. The researchers had a theory that the inflammation that can occur in children who have untreated asthma could be making it harder for those children to control their blood sugar levels.
The study included, and kept track of, around 1,700 kids who had been diagnosed with type 1 diabetes. Researchers also kept track 311 kids who were diagnosed with type 2 diabetes (between the years 2002 and 2005). They found that 10% of the kids who had type 1 diabetes also had asthma, and more than 16% of the kids who had type 2 diabetes also had asthma.
The researchers concluded that kids who have type 1 diabetes and asthma were 37% more likely to have poor control over their blood sugar than were kids who had type 1 diabetes, but not asthma. The researchers noted that this is especially true if the child’s asthma is untreated.
However, they didn’t find the same result with the kids who had asthma and type 2 diabetes. This could have happened for a few reasons. It could be due to the fact that the researchers had a smaller sample size of kids who had type 2 diabetes and asthma (when compared to the group that had type 1 diabetes and asthma). It could also have something to do with the affect of the types of asthma medications that the children were using. Some impact blood sugar levels.
Doctors who were not involved in this study pointed out some problems with it. The kids that are were taking asthma medications were the ones who were covered by a health insurance plan that made it possible for their parents to afford the medication. These kids had much better access to health care than kids whose parents didn’t have health insurance. It is possible that the kids who have poor glycemic control are the ones who don’t have access to good health care, and the asthma medications are not the problem at all.
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