DIABETES MELLITUS IN INFANTS UNDER ONE YEAR OF AGE

Abstract

DIABETES as a pediatric entity is not uncommon, since it has been found that 5¹ to 5.7 per cent² of all persons with diabetes have the onset of their disease during the first decade of life. However, its incidence decreases directly with the decrease in the age period studied. Of a group of 750 patients with juvenile diabetes studied by White,³ 16 per cent were found to have had the onset before the age of 4 years, whereas the disease occurred before the age of 1 year in only 0.5 per cent. A similar proportion (7 out of 1,430 diabetic children) was noted in her later figures.² In view of the relative rarity of the disease in children under 1 year of age, it would appear important that every new case discovered be reported in order to augment the general knowledge of this group. With this