Risk Factors For Type 1 Diabetes
Some risk factors raise the risk for type 1 diabetes. You are more likely to have type 1 diabetes if you are a teenager or child, you have a sibling or parent with such a condition or you attain some genes that link to the disease. Risk factors of type 1 diabetes are not understandable. In various ways, they are familiar with the reasons for diabetes. This is because such factors that might stimulate type 1 diabetes for few people might not stimulate it for other people. There are various risk factors that might make it more likely that you will have type 1 diabetes.
If you are having the genetic factor that are making you at risk of having type 1 diabetes. That genetic factor is present on chromosome 6 and it is an HLA (human leukocyte antigen) complex. Various HLA complexes are associated with type 1 diabetes and if you have each or more of such factors you might have type 1 diabetes. Researchers have found some significant risk factors:
- Race or ethnicity
Race might be an increasing reason for type 1 diabetes. Individuals who are white might have more genetic lead to type 1 diabetes, considering the condition is most occurring in this group. Certain races or ethnicities are having an increasing rate of type 1 diabetes. In the United States, in comparison to Hispanic Americans and African Americans Caucasians seem to be more at risk of having type 1 diabetes. Chinese people are at lower risk of having type 1 diabetes, as do individuals in South America.
- Environmental factors
Few viruses might trigger type 1 diabetes as well. It is not clear that one may do this, therefore. Likewise, individuals from the cold climates are distinctly possible to have type 1 diabetes. Doctors also check more cases of type 1 diabetes in winter in comparison to summer. Many other components might affect who forms type 1 diabetes. Researchers also find that certain viruses might induce the formation of type 1 diabetes by forming the immune system to fight against your body instead of aiding it fight against sickness and infection. Viruses that are more likely to be inducing type 1 diabetes consist of mumps, coxsackie and German measles.
- Genetic factors
Researchers do not know what exactly is the reason for type 1 diabetes. Therefore, they think that your genes might play an important role both in means of genes you take over and your family history of diabetes. People who are experiencing type 1 diabetes are born having an increasing likelihood of forming the disease. It also seems to be passed down by generation of each family. It is not clear what the pattern is and why few people in a family will have diabetes while others do not. Researchers have found some gene variants that might raise a risk of having diabetes in a person. These variants might be shared between child and parent, generation after generation. Therefore, not everyone who is experiencing these genes will lead to type 1 diabetes.
That is the reason; researchers think that genes are the only part of such an equation. They assume something regulates such conditions in individuals who have the inherited genes. A virus might be the one trigger that can be considered. Furthermore, for instance, identical twins that are experiencing the same genes might not both form the condition. If each twin experiences type 1 diabetes, the other twin forms such a condition most of the time or less. This recommends that genes are not the only reason.
- Age
Therefore, type 1 diabetes might occur at any age, it seems at two notable peaks. The first peak happens during childhood between the age of 4 to 7 years old, and the second in children between the ages of 10 to 14 years old.
- Genetics
The existence of some genes show an increasing chance of forming type 1 diabetes.
- Family history
Anyone who is with a sibling or a parent having type 1 diabetes has a bit of an increasing chance of forming the condition. Therefore, type 1 diabetes consists of an inherited chance of having the disease. If a family member is suffering or ever suffered from such disease, then you are at higher risk of having that disease. If both parents suffer from type 1 diabetes or ever had, likelihood of their children forming type 1 diabetes is increasingly greater than if just each parent has or had type 1 diabetes. Researchers also noticed that if the father is suffering from type 1 diabetes then the chance of a child having it as well is a bit higher than if the sibling or mother has type 1 diabetes.
- Geography
The occurrence of type 1 diabetes needs to rise as you go away from the equator. It looks like people who are living in northern areas are at increasing risk of having type 1 diabetes. It has been recommended that individuals who are living in northern areas are indoors more significantly during the time of winters. It also means that they are at near proximity to each other. Also, significantly leading to more viral diseases or infections. Therefore, people who are living in southern areas like South America are less likely to have type 1 diabetes. And with the same lines, researchers also noticed that more situations are diagnosed in the winter in the northern countries, the diagnosis cases go down during the summer.
- Early diet
Researchers also recommend a bit higher chance of occurrence of type 1 diabetes in children who were providing cow’s milk at a quite young age.
- Other autoimmune diseases
As discussed above, type 1 diabetes is an autoimmune situation because it leads to the body’s immune system to get against itself. There are various other autoimmune conditions that might share the same HLA complex, and however, attaining each of those diseases might make you more likely to have type 1 diabetes. Other autoimmune situations that might raise the chance of having type 1 diabetes consist of Graves’s disease, pernicious anemia and multiple sclerosis. (5)