30/09/2025
A 5-year-old child is admitted to the hospital with a new diagnosis of type 1 diabetes mellitus.
She was brought to the emergency department with a 3-day history of increased thirst and bedwetting after having
been dry overnight for the past year.
Her hemoglobin A1c concentration at diagnosis was 8.2%, and her laboratory findings did not demonstrate diabetic ketoacidosis.
The family is concerned that she has had
unrecognized diabetes for a long time and wonder whether this could have been identified when the child
was last seen for a health supervision visit 2 months ago.
At that time, the child had no symptoms. The family also asks why their child has this condition when “no one else in the family has diabetes.”
Of the following, the BEST response to provide this family with respect to their concerns is
A. the child was likely born with a genetic predisposition to the condition and symptoms develop insidiously over time
B. the child is unlikely to develop other autoimmune conditions, because hers presents in isolation
C. the family has allowed the child to consume too much unprocessed sugar
D. universal screening for the condition is recommended for children at health supervision visits