Background: Former studies have assumed a connection between type 1 diabetes and epilepsy in
children and adolescents. In this study, clinical and antibody data of University
Children Hospital Kiel are analyzed in detail.
Methods: A retrospective chart review was performed in the Pediatric Departments of the University
Hospital in Kiel, Germany, in 321 patients with diabetes mellitus type 1, age younger
than 18 years. In this diabetes cohort, all patients were identified and studied who
had the additional diagnosis epilepsy. Results were compared with the literature.
Results: The pediatric department listed 321 patients diagnosed with type 1 diabetes, 17 of
them with epilepsy, giving a prevalence of 53/1,000. This prevalence was ten times
higher than the prevalence of epilepsy in the general population. In general, the
type 1 diabetes had an earlier onset than the epilepsy and the patients were younger
at the onset of diabetes compared with the patients with only diabetes. No higher
level of diabetes-specific antibodies could be found in the study population of the
University Hospital Kiel. No significant frequency could be demonstrated in age of
the parents, pregnancy, birth, development in infancy, family surrounding, or medical
treatment of the patients.
Conclusion: In children and adolescents with type 1 diabetes, epilepsy occurs strikingly more
frequently compared with epilepsy alone in the general population. The question remains
whether this demonstrates an association or a statistically significant common pathogenetic
(autoimmunological?) background of the diseases in this cohort. Further studies should
aim to enlarge sample sizes and add other parameter, for instance laboratory items
as CNS autoantibodies.
