One simple test could save a life
Townsville expert leads awareness push
A TOWNSVILLE paediatrician is leading a national charge to bring awareness to a rare and potentially fatal disease that is easily diagnosed, yet often goes undetected.
Type 1 diabetes is a hereditary auto-immune condition in which the immune system destroys the cells in the pancreas that produce insulin. There is no cure.
Townsville University Hospital endocrinologist Jason Yates has been leading a major statewide campaign that launches today to bring awareness to diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA), a potentially fatal complication of undiagnosed type 1 diabetes in children.
Dr Yates said if there was only one take-home message for the community, it was to speak up to your GP and request a test.
Symptoms include excessive thirst, passing more urine, unexplained weight loss, and feeling tired, lethargic and always hungry.
“It’s got absolutely nothing to do with diet,” Dr Yates said.
“It has to do with an inherited gene which makes you more predisposed to it and
then something else happens like a virus to trigger the immune system.
“Once you’ve reached a point where you’ve got symptoms related to high blood glucose, getting you treated is better for both the short and the long-term outcomes for a child.”
Dr Yates said the education program, which would go into schools, primary health care providers and playgroups, was about empowering parents, and urging them to consider doing the simple diagnostic test.
“The signs of type 1 diabetes
can be subtle and tough for parents, and even GPS, to pick up,” he said.
“Type 1 diabetes is one of those conditions in childhood in particular, which has such a dramatic effect on not only the childhood, the family, and it’s a lifelong condition and it never goes away.
“There’s not a lot of medical practices we have that are as easy that all you need to do is a finger prick to test blood glucose. That’s the only test you need to do.”
In 2019, 1759 children were diagnosed with type 1 diabetes, a lifelong condition where the body cannot transform glucose into energy.
Undiagnosed, children can develop the potentially lifethreatening DKA – a severe metabolic emergency that often requires intensive care support. Most children who develop DKA are linked to a delay in diagnosing type 1 diabetes.
Dr Yates said the campaign, which has been launched in partnership with Clinical Excellence Queensland, Children’s Health Queensland, Diabetes Australia and notfor-profit JDRF, was about bringing sustained awareness through education.
“We’ve updated the child health manual with diabetes, we’ve updated the red books to have something at the four year check about diabetes,” he said.
“The Royal Australian College of General Practitioners has been engaged really heavily with us in updating their clinical guidelines for kids.
“Engaging the Lions Club and Country Women’s Association has been strategic because as a parent who do you go to? You call your mum or grandmother for advice.”