Infections in early childhood may put children at a high risk for developing type 1 diabetes mellitus, a new research has warned.
The study included 148 children at high risk for T1D with 1,245 documented infectious events during 90,750 person-days during their first three years of life.
"Our study identified respiratory infections in early childhood, especially in the first year of life, as a risk factor for the development of T1D", the authors note.
"We also found some evidence for short-term effects of infectious events on development of autoimmunity, while cumulative exposure alone seemed not to be causative," they further wrote.
According to the results, an increased hazard ratio of islet autoantibody seroconversion was associated with respiratory infections during the first six months of life and ages 6 to almost 12 months.
During the second year of life, no meaningful associations were detected for any infectious category.
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A higher number of respiratory infections in the six months prior to islet autoantibody seroconversion was also associated with an increased HR.
The study has been published by JAMA Pediatrics.