Berrie Center’s type 1 diabetes (T1D)

Interesting information regarding early detection of Type 1 diabetes mellitus in unsuspecting individuals.

Of the thousands of families who have participated in the Berrie Center’s type 1 diabetes (T1D) screening program as part of the NIH TrialNet Pathway to Prevention Study, only 5% of people who are screened for T1D have the pancreatic antibodies that indicate a higher risk of getting the disease.  TrialNet screening allows identification of people with T1D before they get sick. 

The study begins by screening people who are at risk for T1D—the parents, siblings, children, aunts, uncles, nieces, nephews and cousins of people who already have it—with a simple blood test that looks for pancreatic auto-antibodies, or markers that the immune system’s assault on the beta cells has already begun. Subjects who test positive for one or more antibodies (five different antibodies are measured) are re-tested and may undergo glucose tolerance testing. Individuals are considered to have “silent” T1D when glucose levels are abnormal, but they are without any symptoms. Another proposed name for this condition is “biochemical diabetes.”

Link: http://www.nbdiabetes.org/news/early-detection-type-1-diabetes