Diabetes mellitus in long-term survivors of pediatric hematopoietic cell transplantation

Abstract

To identify risk factors associated with the development of diabetes mellitus and to describe the prevalence of diabetes in pediatric hematopoietic cell transplant (HCT) survivors. The follow-up records of 748 patients who survived for at least 2 years after pediatric HCT were retrospectively reviewed for diagnosis of diabetes. Risk factors for type 2 diabetes were analyzed using multivariate statistics. Among 748 patients with a median of 11 years of follow-up, 38 developed diabetes after HCT. Four patients (three leukemia and one neuroblastoma) developed type 1 diabetes 8 to 14 years after HCT, at between 10 and 19 years of age. Thirty-four patients (32 leukemia and 2 aplastic anemia) developed type 2 diabetes 1 to 24 years after HCT, at between 11 and 41 years of age. Of the 34 patients with type 2 diabetes, 23 were non-Hispanic white, 3 had experienced asparaginase toxicity (hyperglycemia and/or pancreatitis), and 26 had a family history of diabetes. Risk factors associated with type 2 diabetes were diagnosis of acute or chronic leukemia, race/ethnicity other than non-Hispanic white, family history of diabetes, and asparaginase toxicity. The prevalence of type 1 diabetes among all surviving patients was 0.52%, or three times higher than the general U.S. population. The prevalence of type 2 diabetes was 9% among leukemia survivors and 2% among aplastic anemia survivors, both higher than expected. Pediatric HCT survivors are more likely to develop diabetes than the general population.