Going by the recent statistics released by the Diabetes UK charity, a “shocking” number of over 3,300 children with diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA) – a condition marking potentially terminal complications of diabetes - are rushed to hospitals every year.

Diabetic ketoacidosis, which can lead to coma and eventual death if emergency treatment is not given, results from excessively high levels of blood glucose, and causes rapid breathing, stomach pain, and vomiting. There are approximately 25,000 young people – mostly aged between 10 and 14 years - with ‘Type 1’ diabetes in the UK.

Noting that there were as many as 3,345 child-diabetes-related emergencies among the below-18 age-group in England, during the April 2008-April 2009 period, Diabetes UK has stated that better care could possibly have prevented the fatal complications.

With the statistics revealing that DKA-related hospital admissions have been steadily increasing over recent years - having increased nearly 9 percent since 2006 - Douglas Smallwood, the chief executive of Diabetes UK, said: “It’s shocking to see such high numbers of children being rushed to A&E with this life-threatening condition.”

Further noting that the disquieting rise in DKA cases has either resulted from a late diagnosis or from a failure to effectively manage the post-diagnosis deteriorating condition of the affected children, Smallwood suggested: “Children and their parents desperately need better access to pediatric specialist diabetes teams.”