Clinical presentation of new onset of Diabetes Mellitus in children and adolescents during the period of Covid-19 pandemic

Diabetes Mellitus type 1 is one of the most common endocrinological disease in children. As in many countries of the world, also in Kosovo, the number of children and teenagers affected by diabetes is increasing. The aim of the presentation was to evaluate the number of new cases of diabetes in children and adolescents and the rate of Diabetic Ketoacidosis at the time of diagnosis at the Referral Center for Diabetes, Pediatric Clinic in Prishtina during the period of Covid 19 pandemic compared to previous years. Methodology: The research was retrospective in nature, the data from the hospital records of 220 patients were evaluated. The data of the first group of patients were collected from the period before Covid pandemic (from January 2015 to February 2020) and the second group were the patients presented during the period of Covid pandemic ( from March 2020 until April 2021). Results: The frequency of new cases of diabetes during the period of Covid 19 has not shown a significant increase, but their clinical presentation in a state of severe diabetic ketoacidosis has been 30% higher compared with the period before Covid pandemic and with a fatal outcome in two teenage children. Conclusions: The risk of severe diabetic ketoacidosis in new cases of diabetes has been more pronounced during the period of Covid 19 pandemic. It must be necessary to reorganize the health system in particular during such situations to prevent the deterioration of the condition of children and adolescents with diabetes

Serum S100B Levels Can Predict Computed Tomography Findings in Paediatric Patients with Mild Head Injury

Introduction. Traumatic brain injuries (TBIs) are very common in paediatric populations, in which they are also a leading cause of death. Computed tomography (CT) overuse in these populations results in ionization radiation exposure, which can lead to lethal malignancies. The aims of this study were to investigate the accuracy of serum S100B levels with respect to the detection of cranial injury in children with mild TBI and to determine whether decisions regarding the performance of CT can be made based on biomarker levels alone. Materials and Methods. This was a single-center prospective cohort study that was carried out from December 2016 to December 2017. A total of 80 children with mild TBI who met the inclusion criteria were included in the study. The patients were between 2 and 16 years of age. We determined S100B protein levels and performed head CTs in all the patients. Results. Patients with cranial injury, as detected by CT, had higher S100B protein levels than those without cranial injury (p<0.0001). We found that patients with cranial injury (head CT+) had higher mean S100B protein levels (0.527 μg L−1, 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.447–0.607 μg L−1) than did patients without cranial injury (head CT−) (0.145 μg L−1, 95% CI 0.138–0.152 μg L−1). Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis clearly showed that S100B protein levels differed between patients with and without cranial injury at 3 hours after TBI (AUC = 0.893, 95% CI 0.786–0.987, p=0.0001). Conclusion. Serum S100B levels cannot replace clinical examinations or CT as tools for identifying paediatric patients with mild head injury; however, serum S100B levels can be used to identify low-risk patients to prevent such patients from being exposed to radiation unnecessarily