Factors that influence the physical development of children and adolescents with type 1 diabetes: A scoping review

Introduction: Type 1 diabetes mellitus is a chronic disease, with a high incidence, mainly in childhood. The disease can cause various complications, such as hypoglycemia or diabetic ketoacidosis, but it can also affect linear growth.

Purpose: The purpose of this scoping review is to investigate the relationship between type 1 diabetes mellitus and linear growth, as well as the effect of the disease on it.

Methods: This scoping review analyzed articles on type 1 diabetes and physical growth in children from PubMed and ScienceDirect databases. The key terms "T1D" and "linear growth" were combined with the terms "skeletal growth" and "height". The search was limited to English and criteria included articles published between 2018 and 2024, under 18-year-old participants, and research studies of any design. Exclusion criteria included growth hormone treatments, reviews, meta-analyses, case studies, risk of developing type 1 diabetes, muscle development, bone density association, and older subjects. The PRISMA-ScR methodology was applied for selection and analysis.

Results: A total of 98 articles were found, with 87 from PubMed and 11 from ScienceDirect. After applying selection criteria, 54 articles were rejected, leaving 13 to be reduced to 8 after reading the full text. These 8 articles involved 11,037 children from 6 countries, with 6 studies being observational, retrospective, prospective-longitudinal, or cross-sectional. The children's ages ranged from 3 to 18 years, and their heights were measured in centimeters.

Conclusions: The findings of the study show that the disease can affect the growth of children and adolescents, resulting in the final height differing from the target height. Regular monitoring and regulation of glucose levels also seems to be particularly important, to minimize the effects of the disease on linear growth.