More care needed

Untreated children with diabetes live 16 years less

A better life when diabetes therapy works right from the start.

(Bild: stock.adobe.com/Lobanov Dmitry Photography 2013)

More and more young people in Austria are suffering from type 1 diabetes. Nevertheless, these children do not have enough resources available for comprehensive medical care. This has fatal consequences for the future of young people: poorly treated diabetes costs them many years of their lives!

"Studies prove it: If everything goes well in the first year after diagnosis, the next few years will also be positive and the family will learn to manage the diabetes. However, if there is a lack of suitable support and care, complications arise throughout the rest of the patient's life, both physically and psychologically," explained Prim. Prof. Dr. Peter Fasching, MBA, from the Ottakring Clinic (W) and President of the Austrian Diabetes Society (ÖDG) at a press conference in Vienna.

The disease damages for a lifetime
"If very young children under the age of ten develop type 1 diabetes, the harmful effects of the disease can affect the body for a long time. This is why these offspring have the highest risk of dying earlier," explained diabetes specialist Ao.Univ.-Prof. Dr. Birgit Rami-Merhar, MBA, Medical University of Vienna. "According to Swedish data, they lose a whole 16 years of life expectancy. Better measures must therefore be taken for these patients at an early stage!"

Unfortunately, the guidelines for care ratios for children and adolescents with type 1 diabetes are clearly not being met in Austria. Throughout Austria, there is a lack of positions for pediatric diabetologists, diabetes consultants, psychologists, pediatric nurses and nutritionists. 

Modern technical aids in diabetes therapy make life easier. But every technology needs to be learned and understood. Staff are needed to provide this support.

OÄ Priv.-Doz. Dr. Gersina Rega-Kaun, erste Sekretärin der ÖDG, Klinik Ottakring (W) 

Prof. Dr. Birgit Rami-Merhar: "An Austria-wide survey of all 34 diabetes centers showed that we have far too few staff available to provide this comprehensive care, often far fewer than half the number of people actually required. However, we need more multidisciplinary teams to be able to care for children properly! We are therefore calling for more resources, because diabetes requires complex treatment!"

Mobile care as a good start
A pilot project in Graz (Styria) is therefore expanding mobile care, which is currently only offered on a regular basis in Vienna and on a limited basis in Tyrol and Salzburg. "The aim is to give the children and their parents a good start. And also for the time after they start school in hospital," says Elisabeth Renner, Chairwoman of MOKI Styria, who runs DiAB KIDS Diabetes Assistance & Advice. "We support families at home, where they have to learn to integrate diabetes therapy and all the new processes into their family life."

With success: evaluations showed that complications were reduced, fewer hospital stays were necessary and psychological stress also decreased.

What is type 1 diabetes?

Type 1 diabetes mellitus is an autoimmune disease that leads to a lack of insulin. It often affects children and adolescents. In Austria, around 3,500 young people up to the age of 14 are affected. The number of children and adolescents with the disease has been rising steadily for decades. The disease should not be confused with the "widespread disease" type 2 diabetes, which affects over 700,000 Austrians.

Mobile Care also trains educational staff in kindergartens, elementary school and after-school care centers to give young patients and their environment a good start outside the family. This has been proven to result in better integration of the children into the groups and classes and at the same time the teachers' fear of the complex and unknown illness has been allayed. For example, the dreaded hypoglycaemia ("hypo") occurs much less frequently than in the past thanks to today's modern therapy pump systems. 

Against the exclusion of type 1 diabetics
Often, only a few visits from diabetes advisors are necessary to avoid major problems and, above all, to counteract stigmatization of the offspring. 

More posts required
In order to give all young diabetes patients an ideal start to a good life with the disease, the Austrian Diabetes Society is therefore calling for an increase in permanent positions in all areas of care for children, adolescents and young adults with type 1 diabetes mellitus - from the initial diagnosis, through care in the pediatric diabetes center and at home, to the transition to adult medicine.