Long term complications of diabetes in children in Kuwait: Results of Childhood Onset Diabetes Electronic Registry (CODeR)

The long-term vascular complications of diabetes include retinopathy, nephropathy, neuropathy, and macrovascular disease[1]. Symptomatic diabetes-related vascular complications are rare in childhood and adolescence. However, early functional and structural abnormalities may be present few years after diagnosis[1]. Ranking second worldwide in the incidence of type 1 diabetes (T1D) in children [2] and holding a high record in the prevalence obesity in school children who carry a high risk of type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2D)[3]; Kuwait is expected to host a growing number of young diabetic population who will have longer duration of the disease over the course of their lifetime. Despite the previously mentioned facts about diabetes status in Kuwait, there is substantial lack of knowledge of diabetes complications in youth who bear the burden of the disease. To our Knowledge, there is limited published data and no ongoing prospective studies on long-term diabetes complications in children and adolescents in the State of Kuwait. We propose a study to estimate prevalence and time to onset, and to evaluate associated risk factors of long-term diabetes complications in children aged 12 years or less with T1D and T2D diagnosed in 2011-2017 registered in Childhood-Onset Diabetes electronic Registry (CODeR) in Kuwait. We believe that the results of this study will help to better understand the magnitude of the disease and its risk factors in the state of Kuwait. It will also draw the attention of health care professionals and planners to the size of the problem, hopefully, this will aid directing resources to diabetes screening and prevention programs to target those at risk.