An international study says that children under the age of 15 are more susceptible to develop diabetes in winter.

An analysis involving 31,000 children from diabetes centers in 53 countries revealed a link between the season and the onset of Type 1 diabetes. A total of 42 centers exhibited this trend and 33 out of them showed a high diagnosis rate in winters.

This winter trend also was more prominent in boys and in both sexes of the older group.

As compared to the Type 1 diabetes which is more prone to occur in childhood requiring a lifelong supplementation of insulin, the Type 2 diabetes is associated more to obesity and likely to develop in the middle age.

Elena Moltchanova, who led the study at the National Institute for Health and Welfare, Helsinki, said: "Numerous reasons have been suggested for the apparent seasonality of the onset of Type 1 diabetes.

He noted that the winter trend may be due to the seasonal changes in blood glucose and insulin levels, seasonal viral infections or the fact that young people tend to eat more and do less exercise in winter.