2023-11-14 16:31:18
by Elena Meli
Knowing your situation (and symptoms) is the theme of World Day because it is fundamental for prevention. Today it is possible for both diabetes 1 and diabetes 2: screening for type 1 is coming to very young people
Many, too many people with diabetes, in Italy and around the world. This disease, in both its forms, has long been a health emergency and for this reason the theme of World Diabetes Day, November 14, Know your risk, know your answer: today it is possible to understand how much you are at risk of diabetes type 2, a metabolic pathology associated with increased resistance to insulin, the hormone necessary for the management of glucose metabolism, but finally also type 1 diabetes, an autoimmune disease in which antibodies destroy the cells of the pancreas that produce insulin.
Type 1 diabetes: symptoms
In the case of type 1 diabetes, which often occurs when young or very young, the possibility of knowing the risk of getting ill is a novelty made possible by the advancement of scientific knowledge, which today allows the antibodies responsible for the disease to be found in the blood before they this manifests itself with serious symptoms such as ketoacidosis, a metabolic decompensation that can lead to death and leave behind permanent damage. Furthermore, Italy is the first country in the world to have established screening for these antibodies in under 18s, which will start in 2024 thanks to the approval of Law 130/2023 last September. The work to get there was long, as Nicola Zeni, president of the Italian Diabetes Foundation, the association promoting the law, explains: It took two intense years, in which we shared the urgency and necessity of the law with all the political parties. It was truly exciting to be able to listen to parliamentarians discuss type 1 diabetes and celiac disease on several occasions (as part of the same screening the auto-antibodies responsible for gluten intolerance will also be searched for, ed.), something that has never happened before in history. of Italy. The sensitivity and intelligence demonstrated by the people who brought forward the bill is truly commendable. Now it is a question of quickly defining, as required by the law itself, the methods with which to implement the screening, which will hopefully begin in the first half of 2024. Fondazione Italiana Diabete is already working on other research projects, relentlessly pursuing its own mission to find the definitive cure for type 1 diabetes.
The importance of screening
This result is very important because, as Valentino Cherubini, president of the Italian Society of Pediatric Endocrinology and Diabetology, adds, if the disease has an early onset and appears in children under 10 years of age, it can reduce the life expectancy by sixteen years. life. However, if diagnosed in time, treated and well controlled, life expectancy as adults is the same as that of the population without diabetes. Once young patients with a high probability of developing type 1 diabetes have been identified, parents must be informed of the symptoms to watch out for and provide for close monitoring of blood sugar levels. This will allow us to prevent the onset of ketoacidosis, which still occurs in 40 percent of cases and is very dangerous, as well as leaving permanent damage; furthermore, screening, allowing the identification of subjects at risk, is also the only way to be able to use new therapies in the future such as teplizumab, which allows the onset of type 1 diabetes to be delayed by 2-3 years in these subjects and at the moment Authorized only in the United States.
Type 2 diabetes
Knowing your fundamental risk also in the case of type 2 diabetes, which in Italy affects over four million people and causes 80 thousand deaths a year, with as many as nine avoidable deaths every hour. This is why today the Parliamentary Intergroup Obesity, Diabetes and Chronic Non-Communicable Diseases and FeSDI – Federation of Italian Diabetic Scientific Societies (made up of SID – Italian Society of Diabetology and AMD – Association of Diabetologists) have underlined the importance of knowing your risk of getting diabetes and therefore monitoring blood sugar levels, because doing so is crucial for prevention, early diagnosis and timely treatment. Identifying factors such as familiarity or lifestyles that can predispose to the disease is of fundamental importance – underlines Angelo Avogaro, president of FeSDI and SID -. An accurate assessment can identify people at high risk, allowing them to take effective preventive measures, such as a balanced diet, regular exercise and weight control. These actions can delay or even prevent the onset of type 2 diabetes, significantly improving quality of life and limiting avoidable mortality, given that the majority of people with diabetes die from cardiovascular complications. Type 2 diabetes is a complex disease which, thanks to unhealthy lifestyles, continues its inexorable growth, affecting more and more people, including young people who often live in precarious living conditions. However, it is a pathology that remains preventable – specifies Riccardo Candido, vice-president of FeSDI and new national president of AMD -. To stop its progress, as well as that of obesity which is its primary risk factor, it is essential to convey to citizens and patients the importance of adopting healthy lifestyles, in terms of nutrition and physical activity, especially if in the presence of histories of diabetes in the family. Knowing the risk of onset of the disease, together with primary prevention tools, allows you to intervene promptly and reduce the potential impact of the pathology.
November 14, 2023 (changed November 14, 2023 | 3:00 pm)
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