Tablets can help treat neonatal diabetes

Babies born with diabetes can be treated successfully with tablets instead of insulin injections, a new study suggests.

Scientists have examined data collected over the last decade from patients diagnosed with neonatal diabetes who switched from receiving insulin injections to sulphonylurea tablets.

Researchers from the University of Exeter have collaborated with groups in Norway, Italy, France and Poland to analyse findings from 81 patients from 20 different countries.

The results, published in The Lancet Diabetes and Endocrinology, show they can be treated successfully through sulphonylurea tablets and have excellent blood sugar control in the long-term. Neonatal diabetes is diagnosed before the age of six months and is often caused by a mutation in the KCNJ11 gene.