ADA and EASD Publish Guidance on Diagnosis, Management of Type 1 Diabetes

The American Diabetes Association (ADA) and European Association for the Study of Diabetes (EASD) have released new guidance related to the diagnosis and management of type 1 diabetes.

Debuted during EASD 2021 and simultaneously published in each organization’s flagship journals, the consensus report provides perspective into the impact of new treatments and technologies on the diagnosis and management of type 1 diabetes and related comorbidities.

“This new consensus statement not only brings in the advances that have been made in treating type 1 diabetes in recent years, but also covers other vital areas from a patient perspective – such as the psychosocial consequences of living with the condition, that can sometimes be neglected,” said report co-author Anne Peters, MD, Professor of Clinical Medicine at Keck School of Medicine, University of Southern California, in a statement.

Composed by Peters and a team of 14 colleagues from institutions across the US and Europe, the 37-page report is broken down into more than a dozen sections and contains 293 references. Specific areas of interest addressed in the report include diagnosis of type 1 diabetes, goals of therapy and blood sugar targets, schedule of care, self-management education and other behavioral considerations, glucose monitoring, insulin therapy, managing hypoglycemia, psychosocial care, diabetic ketoacidosis, pancreas and islet cell transplantation, additional therapies. The report also provides insight into management of type 1 diabetes in special populations and areas of unmet need for development of future technologies.

Among the highlights noted in the ADA’s press release for the new report are a new algorithm for accurately diagnosing type 1 diabetes, perspective related to advances in continuous glucose monitoring and hybrid closed-loop technology, and the importance of psychosocial health of patients with type 1 diabetes.

A draft version of this document was originally presented at ADA 2021 with the intent of inviting comments from interested parties. In the aforementioned statement, panel co-chair Richard Holt, MA, MB, BChir, PhD, a professor in Diabetes and Endocrinology, Human Development and Health at the University of Southampton, UK, commented on the importance of including input from those directly involved in progressing the diagnosis and management of type 1 diabetes.

“Public comments from a range of healthcare professionals on both sides of the Atlantic were received, responding as an individual or on behalf of groups of professionals working in clinical care, academia and the pharmaceutical industry,” Holt explained. “We read all of these comments carefully and modified the report accordingly. Thankfully, most of these comments related to clarifying the wording of certain sections, and no major changes were needed to our initial draft Consensus Statement.”

This report, “The Management of Type 1 Diabetes in Adults. A Consensus Report by the American Diabetes Association (ADA) and the European Association for the Study of Diabetes (EASD),” was simultaneously published in Diabetes Careand Diabetologia.