Learning Objectives

• Testing for islet autoantibodies on a large scale could identify people with autoimmunity before clinical symptoms of T1D​
• Education of people with presymptomatic autoimmune T1D can reduce the risk of DKA and hospital admission​

Summary

Recently, Italy has been the first country to approve a law for screening of type 1 diabetes and celiac disease in the general population of children and adolescents. The objective of this screening is to reduce the overall impact of these two frequent chronic diseases in the general population. Both diseases are autoimmune as a mechanism, and this means that they are associated with the presence in the blood of autoantibodies. By measuring autoantibodies in people who are not affected by any of these diseases, meaning people from the general population, we are able to identify those children and adolescents who are not affected by the disease, but who are at risk for these diseases due to the fact that they are positive for these markers in their blood. By identifying children and adolescents at risk, we are able to identify people during their presymptomatic phase of the disease. And this is very important because we can act in them. Especially, we can prevent diabetic ketoacidosis, which is a very severe complication of type 1 diabetes at the time of diagnosis. By doing this, we also are able to promote a better awareness in the general population and within the community of people responsible for public health.

MAT-GLB-2405101-1.0 - 08/2024