(MENAFN- AFP) A growing number of children in England and Wales are being diagnosed with diabetes, with many showing signs of potentially serious health problems, auditors revealed Monday.
The National Paediatric Diabetes Audit report showed that 26,867 children and young people aged from 0-25 years were registered with diabetes in 2013/2014, compared to 25,221 the previous year.
The report said a "worryingly high" number of patients aged 12 and over were showing early signs of potentially serious complications including kidney disease and blindness.
While quality of care for young people with diabetes was found to be improving, there remains "significant variation" across different regions, auditors added.
Young diabetic patients should be undergoing seven key checks each year but only 16 percent were doing so, the report found.
Dr Justin Warner, clinical lead for the audit, said: "On the one hand the picture is positive; the quality of care for children and young people with diabetes is improving and we're getting better at ensuring care processes are met.
"Yet the challenge we face is also growing, with more children being diagnosed with diabetes and some displaying early signs of potentially serious long-term health problems.
"This is a lifelong condition where tight overall diabetes control is important to reduce the risk of complications later in life."
Children and young people living in deprived areas have poorer outcomes in terms of diabetes control than in more affluent areas, while white ethnic groups achieve better control of the disease than other ethnicities, the report said.
The highest prevalence of the condition was among young people in Wales and the South West of England while the lowest was in London.
More than 95 percent of the total registered were cases of Type 1 diabetes. Of those, almost one in five children aged 0-11 and one in four over the age of 12 were classed as obese.
The research showed that 27.5 percent of young people with Type 1 diabetes had high blood pressure, while more than 7 percent had excess protein in their urine indicating a high risk of future kidney disease.
More than 14 percent had early signs of eye disease and could be at risk from blindness in the future.
Diabetes UK chief executive Barbara Young said the numbers of children not receiving the care they need was "hugely worrying".
"There is an urgent need for the NHS to make the pace of improvement quicker, so that we get to a point where every child with diabetes is getting the care they need to give them the best possible chance of a long and healthy life," she said.
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