This test can predict your child’s risk of type 1 diabetes

Type 1 diabetes is a serious autoimmune disease most often diagnosed in children. It is estimated that 90 per cent of Type 1 diabetes patients worldwide are under the age of 25. As many as 40 per cent of children with Type 1 diabetes develop a serious complication known as ketoacidosis, which happens when acidic substances called ketones build up to dangerous levels in your body. This condition can be deadly, especially in young children. Now, scientists have developed a method that could predict whether a child is likely to develop type 1 diabetes.

It is a combined risk score approach that takes into account genetics, family history of diabetes, and islet autoantibodies — biomarkers known to be implicated in type 1 diabetes.

In a paper published in Nature Medicine, the research team revealed that the new testing method dramatically improved prediction of which children would develop type 1 diabetes. This will allow better diabetes risk counseling of families and improve the efficiency of programmes to screen newborns to prevent the potentially deadly condition of ketoacidosis, the authors said.

The brain behind the new method

The new “combined risk score” test is the brainchild of a group of international researchers led by scientists at researchers at the University of Exeter in the United Kingdom and the Pacific Northwest Research Institute in the United States.

They followed 7,798 children at high risk of developing type 1 diabetes from birth until nine years. The children were participants of The Environmental Determinants of Diabetes in the Young (TEDDY) Study, a large international study funded primarily by the US National Institutes of Health and U.S. Centers for Disease Control, as well as by the charity JDRF.

The new test was able to predict whether children under the age of two would end up with Type 1 diabetes by the age of eight. In addition, it can improve the screening of newborns to prevent ketoacidosis.

“At the moment, 40 per cent of children who are diagnosed with type 1 diabetes have the severe complication of ketoacidosis. For the very young this is life-threatening, resulting in long intensive hospitalizations and in some cases even paralysis or death. Using our new combined approach to identify which babies will develop diabetes can prevent these tragedies, and ensure children are on the right treatment pathway earlier in life, meaning better health,” ANI quoted Dr Lauric Ferrat at the University of Exeter Medical School as saying.

The researchers believe that the combined approach can also help predict the onset of other diseases with a strong genetic component that is identifiable in childhood, such as celiac disease. The scientists are now putting this to the test in a trial in Washington State.

Causes and symptoms of Type 1 diabetes

Type 1 diabetes develops when the pancreas does not produce enough insulin— a hormone that helps glucose or sugar from food get into your cells to give them energy. What exactly causes it is not clear, but in most people with type 1 diabetes, their body’s immune system mistakenly destroys insulin-producing (islet) cells in the pancreas. It affects people of all ages, but unlike Type 2 diabetes, it is not related to diet or lifestyle. Unfortunately, there’s no way to prevent type 1 diabetes and—currently—there is no cure.

Watch out for these signs or symptoms of type 1 diabetes in your child –