Stressful events in childhood can triple the risk of an individual developing type 1 diabetes, researchers reported today.
In the All Babies In Southeast Sweden study, a unique population-based prospective study, researchers examined if psychological stress, as well as parental perception of parenting stress and lack of social support, over a child’s first 14 years, could be a risk factor.
The study sub-sample included 10,495 families with children aged between two and 14 years, none of whom had been diagnosed with type 1 diabetes.
A total of 58 children were subsequently diagnosed with the condition and age at diagnosis was obtained from the national register SweDiabKids in 2012.
Family psychological stress was measured via questionnaires given to the parents, which assessed serious life events (such as death or illness in the family, divorce/separation, a new child or adult in the family, and family conflicts), parenting stress, parental worries and parents’ social support.
The authors, all from Linköping University, found that childhood experience of a serious life event was associated with a higher risk of future diagnosis of type 1 diabetes, with children experiencing such events almost three times more likely to develop the condition than those who had not.
They also found that the increased risk of developing type 1 diabetes caused by stressful incidents was comparable to that of factors such as birthweight, infant nutrition factors and enterovirus infection.
However, when single risk factors were compared, genetic predisposition was still found to be more important, says the study, which is published in Diabetologia.
The authors believe the link might be explained by the beta cell stress hypothesis, which suggests that a child’s experience of a stressful incident (a serious life event) could contribute to beta cell stress via increased insulin resistance as well as increased insulin demands.
A general imbalance in the immune system as a result of chronic stress could also contribute to an immunological reaction against the insulin producing beta cells.
Further studies are needed to determine when in the autoimmune process psychological stress may contribute, they add.
“As experience of stressful life events cannot be avoided, children and their parents should get adequate support to cope with these events to avoid their consequences, which could include medical issues,” conclude the authors.
Nygren M, Carstensen J et al. Experience of a serious life event increases the risk for childhood type 1 diabetes: the ABIS population-based prospective cohort study. Diabetologia 10 April 2015; doi 10.1007/s00125-015-3555-2
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