Shanghai has the highest incidence of Type 1 diabetes in China, according to a leading endocrinologist in the city.

“The average growth rate in the incidence of Type 1 diabetes among children aged 14 and below was 14.2 (percent) in a 15-year period,” Luo Feihong, a physician at Fudan University’s children’s hospital, told an audience at the ongoing China International Import Expo.

Compared with the more common Type 2 diabetes, which mostly affects the elderly and obese, Type 1 diabetes is more life-threatening, as the patients are essentially unable to produce insulin, the hormone that controls blood sugar levels. Due to a lack of awareness of the disease, many parents of young diabetics in China don’t know how to monitor or treat their children’s conditions, Luo said.

To help tackle Shanghai’s childhood diabetes problem, Danish pharmaceutical company Novo Nordisk is exhibiting a half-unit insulin pen with a dose memory function for children at the Shanghai expo. (Image: VCG)