You might know that screening is important for the early detection of diseases. It can help to control and manage disease and prevent life-threatening situations. Health conditions like high cholesterol and breast cancer, which are fatal in nature, can be treated and prevented from causing danger. Screening for type 1 diabetes can help prepare for future needs and protect from further damage. However, type 1 diabetes (T1D) screening is one sort of screening that many people are still unaware of. While autoimmune disease is a rarer type of diabetes, it is not just a childhood disease, but also occurs in adults.
Early detection of T1D can save lives, get people into treatment, and potentially slow the start or progress of the disease. You undoubtedly have some queries and worries if you’re interested in T1D screening for yourself or a loved one. This is all the information you require.
What is T1D Screening?
When your immune system mistakenly targets the insulin-producing cells in your pancreas, type 1 diabetes develops. This leads to increased blood sugar levels and requires insulin treatment. But it takes time for this to happen. According to the CDC, it’s usually a slow process that develops in phases over months or years. You receive a clinical diagnosis of T1D when you arrive at the third and last stage.
By detecting the condition in its early stages, a blood test called T1D screening can determine if you are likely or certain to develop type 1 diabetes.
The screening checks for immune system antibodies that target your pancreas. There was no way to diagnose T1D until stage 3, which is when blood sugar becomes exceedingly irregular, you feel sick, and you need insulin treatment. But thanks to T1D screening, doctors can spot the disease in its first two phases, months or even years before any symptoms show up. You can now think of it as being screened for “pre-type 1 diabetes,” which is a condition in which you are at risk of developing the illness but do not yet have it.
What is the Significance of the Findings?
Depending on the test you select, the screening looks for either four or five different types of T1D-associated autoantibodies. Your risk of T1D increases with the number of autoantibodies you have.
A positive test result for one type of antibody does not necessarily indicate that you have diabetes, but it can increase your risk.
You are considered to be in the early stages of T1D if you test positive for two or more types of autoantibodies. You have a nearly 100% risk of getting stage three T1D in your lifetime, a 44% probability of getting it in the next five years, and a 70% chance of getting it in the next ten.
There are no indications that you will develop T1D if your test results are negative. (However, because autoantibodies might develop later, a negative test in a young child does not necessarily mean they are clear for life.
What Makes Early Detection Crucial?
Early diabetes detection connects you with a medical team that can track the progression of your condition and start treatment as soon as necessary. People are experiencing a potential medical emergency known as diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA). DKA happens when your body starts using fat as fuel because it cannot use the carbs you eat for energy if you don’t have enough insulin. This causes an accumulation of acids in the blood, which can ultimately result in problems with cognitive development, oedema, kidney damage, coma, and death. It is preventable with early detection.