A Sweet Dream

By Drs. David Niesel and Norbert Herzog Type I diabetes or juvenile diabetes is often diagnosed by measuring blood glucose levels during the life threatening acute onset of this disease,diabetic ketoacidosis. This often comes as a surprise to parents, requiring a trip to the hospital followed by rapid lifestyle adjustments and a serious increase in their healthcare expenses. A way to test for type 1 diabetes before the onset of symptoms would help prevent the dangerous consequences and give families time to be educated and prepared. Scientists in Germany have developed an easy and relatively inexpensive screening test that can be performed on infants that would predict the development of type 1 diabetes. Most of the 29.1 million Americans with diabetes have what is called type II diabetes but about 1.25 million children and adults have type 1 diabetes. In 2010, diabetes was the seventh leading cause of death in the US. Both the incidence of diabetes and deaths from it are on the rise. Scientists in Germany created the Fr1da study to screen for markers of type 1 diabetes in early childhood. Starting in 2015, they tested nearly 27,000 children to develop a fast, efficient and inexpensive screening test for type 1 diabetes. The test could be used on all children early on to identify those at risk of developing the acute onset of ketoacidosis. It would also reduce the psychological impact of the diagnosis through education and care could be used to assess the environmental ...
Source: Science - The Huffington Post - Category: Science Source Type: news