Authors: F K Gorus I Weets
Publish Date: 2004/10/22
Volume: 47, Issue: 10, Pages: 1859-1859
Abstract
Although we listed vitamin D status as one of many seasondependent external factors that possibly contribute to seasonality at diagnosis of Type 1 diabetes our recent study 1 did not specifically aim at further elucidating the putative implication of vitamin D deficiency in the aetiology of Type 1 diabetes We previously found no differences in season at birth between our group of Type 1 diabetic patients and the Belgian background population 2 Also there was no significant seasonality at diagnosis under age 10 1 Therefore our studies provide no indirect evidence that putative seasondependent risk factors such as maternal perinatal or childhood vitamin D deficiency play a central role in the initiation or precipitation of childhoodonset Type 1 diabetesHowever these observations do not rule out vitamin D deficiency as one of the disease initiators or accelerators and further studies on the possible implication of vitamin D status and receptor polymorphisms in the pathogenesis of Type 1 diabetes are certainly warranted In this respect prospective studies in risk groups such as firstdegree relatives preferably followed from birth on are likely to be most informative
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