Etiologic distribution and clinical characteristics of pediatric diabetes in 276 children and adolescents with diabetes at a single academic center

BACKGROUND: The prevalence of monogenic diabetes is estimated to be 1.1–6.3% of patients with diabetes mellitus (DM) in Europe. The overlapping clinical features of various forms of diabetes make differential diagnosis challenging. Therefore, this study investigated the etiologic distribution and clinical characteristics of pediatric diabetes, including monogenic diabetes, who presented at a single tertiary center over the last 20 years. METHODS: This study included 276 consecutive patients with DM diagnosed before 18 years of age from January 2000 to December 2019 in Korea. Clinical features, biochemical findings, β-cell autoantibodies, and molecular characteristics were reviewed retrospectively. RESULTS: Of the 276 patients, 206 patients (74.6%), 49 patients (17.8%), and 21 patients (7.6%) were diagnosed with type 1 DM, type 2 DM, and clinically suspected monogenic diabetes, respectively. Among 21 patients suspected to have monogenic diabetes, 8 patients had clinical maturity-onset diabetes of the young (MODY), and the remaining 13 patients had other types of monogenic diabetes. Among them, genetic etiologies were identified in 14 patients (5.1%) from 13 families, which included MODY 5, transient neonatal DM, developmental delay, epilepsy, and neonatal diabetes (DEND) syndrome, Wolfram syndrome, Donohue syndrome, immune dysregulation, polyendocrinopathy, enteropathy, X-linked (IPEX) syndrome, Fanconi-Bickel syndrome, Wolcott-Rallison syndrome, cystic fibrosis-related diabetes, and maternally inherited diabetes and deafness. CONCLUSIONS: Genetically confirmed monogenic diabetes accounted for 5.1% of patients evaluated at a single tertiary center over 20-year period. Based on the findings for our sample, the frequency of mutations in the major genes of MODY appears to be low among pediatric patients in Korea. It is critical to identify the genetic cause of DM to provide appropriate therapeutic options and genetic counseling. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12887-021-02575-6.