Some 24.5 children in every 100,000 in Britain develop the condition, putting the UK behind Finland, Sweden, Saudi Arabia and Norway

People with type 1 diabetes cannot produce insulin, so have to get daily doses of it via injections or an insulin pump. Photograph: Reed Saxon/AP
Denis Campbell – The Guardian

The UK has the fifth highest rate in the world of children with type 1 diabetes, which can lead to serious health problems such as blindness and strokes, new research shows.

Some 24.5 children in every 100,000 aged 14 and under develop the condition, according to figures produced by the International Diabetes Federation.

Finland tops an international league table of 88 countries, compiled by Diabetes UK from the data, with a rate of 57.6 per 100,000 children in 2011. Sweden is next with a rate of 43.1, then Saudi Arabia (31.4) and Norway (27.9), and then the UK (24.5).

The UK’s rate is about twice as high as that in Spain (13) and France (12.2), 50% higher than Ireland’s (16.3) and a third more than the Netherlands (18.6), Germany and New Zealand (both 18). The league table only covers the 88 countries where the rate of incidence of type 1 diabetes is available. Many others do not record the incidence of the condition.

Experts are puzzled by the findings and do not know why the rate is high in some places. “We do not fully understand why rates of type 1 diabetes vary so greatly and so it is a mystery why the rate is so high in the UK,” said Barbara Young, chief executive of Diabetes UK. “One of the main theories is that lack of Vitamin D may increase risk, while people with a family history are more likely to develop it and so genetics also seems to play a role.” But it was impossible to identify the exact causes of the condition until more research was done, Young added.

Type 1 diabetes is an auto-immune condition which, unlike the much more common type 2, is not related to diet or other lifestyle factors. About 90% of the 3.7 million people in the UK diagnosed with diabetes have type 2, which is closely associated with obesity, while the other 10% have type 1, according to Diabetes UK.

Type 1 tends to affect children and young adults, though some cases only become apparent in adults. Sufferers cannot produce insulin, so have to get daily doses of it via injections or an insulin pump, and must also control their condition through diet and exercise. Unless it is well managed it can lead to serious complications such as eyesight problems, kidney disease, heart attacks and strokes by as early as the age of 25.

“As incidence is growing by 4% year-on-year, with the greatest rise in under-fives, this problem is only going to get bigger,” said Sarah Johnson, director of policy and communications at the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation. It estimates that about 400,000 people in the UK, including 29,000 children, have the condition. Incidence is expected to double by 2020, the charity says.

“The government’s investment in medical research to understand the causes of, and to help cure, type 1 diabetes is woefully inadequate to face the challenge of type 1 diabetes, and its impact on our children, now and in the future,” she added.

Dr Justin Warner, a spokesman for the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health, said the growing number of children with type 1 was “worrying”. He said it was also disappointing that about 25% of children with newly diagnosed type 1 diabetes have developed diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA) – a complication which can be fatal if not treated – by the time they are identified, which has raised concern about late diagnosis. “This cannot be allowed to continue and the time has come for a concerted effort to improve quality of care,” Warner added, because of an “alarming” rise in children with DKA being admitted to hospital and “little improvement in outcomes of care and participation in care processes over the last eight years in England and Wales”.

An NHS-funded audit of the care of children with diabetes in 2010-11 found that just 6% of those with type 1 receive the eight health checks the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence recommends that all have every year.

Anna Soubry, the public health minister, said new financial incentives in the NHS designed to encourage better care of children with diabetes, and the creation of 10 regional networks of experts in the disease, should help improve the situation.

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Hi all,

I just wanted to take this opportunity to say thank you to everyone who has contributed, shared information or commented on my web sites www.mypump.co.uk and www.mypumpblog.com.

As always please let me know if you have any interesting blogs that you have discovered or even ones of your own which I can share with our ever growing Diabetes community, we are all certainly in a very exciting time and I still can’t believe how fast Diabetes technology is changing for the better. It is so important that we share as much information as possible as there are so many people out there with Diabetes who may not realise what is actually available to them to help make their lives a little easier.

I hope you have all had a very enjoyable Christmas and I would like to wish you all a very Happy New Year and best wishes for 2013.

Kindest regards

Andrew Borrett

www.mypump.co.uk
www.mypumpblog.com
T @MyPump1

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The Power of Light

For decades, researchers, scientists and people living with diabetes have searched for a non-invasive way to continuously measure glucose.

Enter the power of light: C8 MediSensors’ optical glucose monitoring technology is a breakthrough in glucose monitoring science. Completely non-invasive, this new technology promises a new glucose monitoring experience.

As you are probably already aware CGM or continuous Glucose Monitors have been available to us for quite a while now and range from individual devices to combined insulin pumps with built in CGM.

I was very lucky to have received an invite from C8 MediSensors to view their new Non Invasive CGM along with some fellow bloggers from Input, Insulin Independent, Every Day Ups and Downs – A Diabetes Blog all of course are certainly worth reading.

So the day started in London at a Consultancy Company who were great and had everything prepared for us bloggers (Nice sandwiches mmmm) as we can be hard work sometimes ha ha, we were all very excited to see this new CGM device and find out just how it works – not forgetting how much it costs. All the guys were very open and the day in my mind was for us bloggers to provide feedback on what we thought of the CGM which will also be operated using a smartphone app with various functions/log books etc so we all put our pennies worth into this as well.

I have been lucky enough to trial the Medtronic Enlite CGM Sensor and the Animas Vibe CGM Sensor of which both work in conjunction with the Insulin Pump which is great but still not perfect but they are certainly getting there. Both these devices use a wireless CGM sensor that in invasive ie literally goes into your skin that I found a little uncomfortable sometimes but you did get used to it very fast, I also struggled sometimes to find space on my body to insert the sensor as I was also wearing a canular for the insulin pump. All this said the technology on these devices is incredible and gives you a good trend on your blood sugar levels however you will still need to take regular finger prick tests to calibrate the CGM and this is the same for all CGM’s at the moment.

The product itself is a non-invasive optical CGM and is currently classed as a ‘investigational device’, so not yet available for sale anywhere but hopefully this will change very soon – even this year but you all know what red tape is like. C8 MediSensors will hopefully receive European CE mark approval towards the end of this year and plan to launch in the UK and Europe first so that is good news for us.

The Power of Light: Using Raman Spectroscopy to Measure Glucose

Our technique involves shining a monochromatic light source into the skin and detecting the scattered light.  The colors generated by Raman scattering are very specific to the exact chemical structure of the molecules in the sample.  The molecules’ various shapes, sizes, atoms, and types of chemical bonds will generate unique Raman spectra, a unique Raman “fingerprint” that can be used to non-invasively read and measure glucose.

I managed to find this info video on YouTube which I found very helpful but of course the best info would be found on the C8 MediSensors own website

C8 MediSensor info which I hope you will find useful.

• CGM uses an optical light which was taken from Raman spectrometer which in its orignal state would be the size of an oven but the team have managed to minimise this to the size of a matchbox which is truly amazing.
• The device needs to go against the skin which needs to be clear of hair or anything that would obstruct the optical light, the device would update you on your smartphone if the light is broken.
• There is no separate control for this CGM as it is all done through your smartphone using te C8 MediSensors App which is still being fine tuned to meet our needs, you should be able to view you BG level, log books and lots of other useful info which is still to be confirmed.
• At the moment the CGM is designed for use only by adults but I am sure this will change in the future as we never know what is around the corner.
• The C8 MediSensor is about the size of a match box and similar in weight to a small mobile phone, there is also a separate battery pack to power the CGM of which both items are worn in a very non sexy looking material band – please remember this is brand new so like everything I am sure the C8 team will be working on revamped accessories etc.
• A huge plus point for me is the fact you can put it on and off whenever you want as it is non invasive – even if it is worn a=in a rather large band.
• As this device uses optical light it can be affected when you are in very bright areas or even sunshine but the guys have a special material light shield which fits over the CGM to eliminate any sunshine issues – but to be honest you possibly would not want to be wearing this device on the beach, well not yet anyway.
• The CGM can store a rolling 4 months worth of data which should be more than enough info for most of us.
• Initial calibration is between 45-60 minutes and when placing the CGM Sensor onto your skin it can take 15 minutes to warm u.
• COST – well a typical CGM Sensor alone could cost thousands of pounds per year but we were given an indication that the C8 MediSensor will retail at US$4,000 (approx £2,500 at today’s exchange rate). The shelf life would be up to 4 years so this one-off payment should in theory be it – this compared to invasive CGM would be far cheaper in comparison.

I hope the above has answered some of your questions and I must apologise if I have missed anything – please leave me a comment if you have any further questions ?

The Science Inside

Optical glucose monitoring leverages decades of technical innovation in optics, wireless, digital cameras, miniaturization and lessons learned from dozens of attempts at measuring glucose non-invasively. Utilizing a patent-protected process, our design will transmit a painless pulse of light into the skin to detect glucose levels. Paired with Bluetooth technology, the glucose reading will be transmitted wirelessly to an easy-to-use display application on an ordinary Android smartphone.

It was a real pleasure to meet the guys from C8 and Andrew from STWEM who arranged the event, it was quite refreshing to be speaking to a team that was open to the majority of our probing questions and they were free with the info, I hope that we as bloggers have given the team some valuable information to help enhance the device and I hope this will be a continued relationship with C8 – thanks again guys.

A New Experience Awaits

After eight years of research and development, we hope to make optical continuous glucose monitoring a reality for people with diabetes. Currently an investigational device and not available for sale, we plan to pursue regulatory approval and make this new technology available in Europe in 2012.

To stay apprised of product availability, sign up for our regular updates.

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Hi,

As you are possibly aware I have had Type 1 Diabetes all my life which is in fact 40 years – hard to believe I know 🙂

Since I was first diagnosed as a baby the technology has changed so much for products to assist people manage their Diabetes easier, I still remember having large stainless steal with glass syringes that needed to be sterilised each time you used it (Thanks to my Mum) and even checking your Glucose Levels involved urine in a tube which you added a fizzy tablet that changed the colour of the urine – oh my god.

Back to 2012 and some absolutely amazing new products to me which over the next few weeks I hope to have some more in depth Blogs about but some items that have caught my eye have been :

1 Mendor Discreet – All in one BG Meter which is amazing.

2. C8Medisensors – a new non invasive CGM due for release this year all being well, I was lucky to attend a product demo in London a few days ago – WOW. More details to follow.

3. Glooko – this is a cable the attaches to your iPhone in conjunction with an App that allows you to sync your BG results to your phone with lots of other useful add ons. I love it and Blog coming soon.

4. Cellnovo – Insulin Pump, come on guys we have been waiting such a long time for this to be released and I must say this again is technology at its best, I am looking forward to a trial of this patch pump/handset soon.

5. Sanofi – iBGStar BG meter that is tiny and actually can be used on its own or is really created to clip to the bottom of your iPhone to work again in conjunction with an App – Amazing.

Please forgive me if I have missed anything out but these are a few items I have been looking at recently, not forgetting all the Diabetes companies which have literally changed my life such as Medtronic, Animas, Lifescan, Roche, Bayer, Everymed and Sanofi (iBGStar) to mention a few – THANKS TO YOU ALL.

Thanks very much for reading and don’t forget to follow me on Twitter @MyPump1 or info on http://www.mypump.co.uk & http://www.mypumpblog.com.

Have a good weekend
Andrew

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