Yearly blood tests, annual review

Once a year they do a full blood test for liver function, coeliac etc. As my daughter is young (I assume that is the reason) they've never done a cholesterol test. Why is it necessary to do these tests every year on young children? If she develops coeliac disease there will be symptoms which would flag up a problem, so why is screening necessary? What is the liver function test for, why is it so important for a diabetic to have this test done? I can't remember what else they test for. If the patient has good control, is a child and has had diabetes for less than 10 years why do we need to test every year for something that is unlikely to go wrong until later in life? Eye tests have never been done even although I've asked about it (they only start from 12 or 14 years old I can't remember which age it was now), surely if anything is going to show up first it would be retinopathy? I've taken Jess along to the optitians myself to have eye tests done as I feel that is more important than any of the other tests right now. Kidney function test has also now been done on my request but wouldn't have been done yet had I not asked.

Yep, she doesn't like the blood tests and I can fully understand that. They often struggle to get the needle in the vein or get enough blood out in one go, it's very distressing for Jess. We have used the Emla cream but Jess has a reaction to it making it worse, the site becomes inflamed and red within minutes.

The HbA1c test is done every clinic visit, which currently is every 4 months, and that is done by doing a finger prick so not necessary for the HbA1c to be done at the annual blood test. They don't check cholesterol at this age. The kidney test as far as I'm aware is the urine test which I requested so that's not included in the annual blood test. I agree the kidney test is an important one to have done and which is why I asked for it to be done. She also has blood pressure, weigh and height done. Never been offered any sort of foot care advice or screening. Dentist we see every 6 months and as already mentioned I take her to the optician every year, they do the photograph of the retina during the eye check.

As far as I recall the only tests specifically at this annual blood test is liver function (I'm unsure about this one, I might be confusing it with a blood test I had done recently for myself, perhaps liver function isn't on Jess' test), thyroid and coeliac. My reasoning is that if she developed thyroid or coeliac problems then they would present with symptoms and I would then see the importance of a blood test to diagnose once the symptoms have presented themselves. Our non-diabetic children are not subjected to annual blood tests "just incase" so why must diabetic children have them when there's a chance she may never develop these problems. And if she does develop the problem then can't it be diagnosed just like any other child without diabetes would be diagnosed i.e. on presenting with symptoms?

Does anyone know what the increased likelihood of developing coeliac or thyroid problems is for a type 1 diabetic child as opposed to a non-diabetic child?