Can COVID-19 Raise the Risk of Type 1 Diabetes in Babies & Toddlers? Here's What New Research Suggests

If you’re a parent of a little one, here’s something new (and kind of eye-opening) to keep on your radar: Researchers are uncovering a potential link between COVID-19 infections and a greater risk of developing type 1 diabetes in young children — specifically those between 4 months and 2 years old.

Let’s break down what that means — and why it matters.

What’s the connection?

A new study found that babies and toddlers who had COVID-19 were twice as likely to develop certain autoantibodies that attack the cells in the pancreas responsible for making insulin. These cells, called beta cells, live in a part of the pancreas known as the islets of Langerhans. When those beta cells get damaged or destroyed, the body can’t produce its own insulin — and that’s the hallmark of type 1 diabetes.

One of the lead researchers, Dr. Anette-Gabriele Ziegler from the Technical University of Munich, explains that once these autoantibodies show up, there’s almost a guaranteed path to eventually developing type 1 diabetes. So, their presence is a big deal.

How could COVID-19 be involved?

Scientists have suspected for a while that some viral infections — and possibly COVID-19 — might play a role in triggering this kind of autoimmune response. But the how is still being figured out. There are a couple of leading theories:

• Some viruses may directly infect beta cells, changing them just enough to get flagged as a threat by the immune system.

• Or, parts of a virus might look similar to beta cells, confusing the immune system into attacking both.

  
  

In either case, the immune system ends up turning on the body’s own insulin-producing cells.

What the study showed

To get a better sense of what’s going on, Dr. Ziegler and her team followed 885 children between the ages of 4 months and 2 years. All of them were already at some level of risk for developing autoantibodies. Of those children, 170 had antibodies that showed they’d previously had COVID-19. Here’s where it gets interesting:

• Those children were twice as likely to develop islet autoantibodies compared to kids who hadn’t had COVID.

• Kids who caught COVID before turning 18 months old were 5 to 10 times more likely to develop the autoantibodies.

That last part? Definitely concerning.

What now?

Dr. Ziegler says she and her team are really interested in exploring whether early vaccination — starting as young as 6 months — could help prevent this autoimmune process from ever starting. If it turns out that preventing early COVID infections also helps protect against type 1 diabetes, that could be a major step forward in reducing risk.

This research is still developing, and it doesn’t mean every child who had COVID will get type 1 diabetes. But it does shine a spotlight on just how impactful early infections might be — and why staying up to date on vaccines and preventive care matters more than ever.

If you’ve got a baby or toddler at home, this is one more reason to keep an open line of communication with your pediatrician. Science is still unfolding, but one thing’s clear: these early years are more important than we might’ve realized when it comes to long-term health.

Read the study HERE