A world-first study that aims to identify people at risk of developing type 1 diabetes launched this month on World Diabetes Day (14 November 2023), making the UK the first country worldwide to offer general population screening for the condition.
The Type 1 Diabetes Risk in Adults (T1DRA) study aims to recruit 20,000 adults, aged between 18 and 70, from the general population to assess their risk. A similar study for children – ELSA – launched last year.
T1DRA will answer questions about the development of adult-onset type 1 diabetes. It will also give those identified as high risk the opportunity for type 1 diabetes education and monitoring, and access to clinical trials testing the newest innovations in type 1 diabetes treatment, which could prevent or delay the condition.
Type 1 diabetes affects up to 400,000 people in the UK. More than half of type 1 diabetes diagnoses are in adults, but its development has mostly been studied in children and adult-onset type 1 is not well understood. T1DRA will be open to those with no close family members with type 1 diabetes, who make up about 90% of those with the condition. The research team will send participants a finger prick blood test kit in the post. They will examine the blood samples for markers of type 1 diabetes, called islet autoantibodies, which can appear in the blood many years before people begin to experience any symptoms. People identified as high risk will be followed up to examine how many develop type 1 diabetes, how quickly they progress to a clinical diagnosis and to identify which genetic, biological, and environmental factors can be linked with symptoms developing quickly. High risk participants will be offered access to information about the symptoms of type 1 diabetes, its management, and clinical trials testing new type 1 therapies. While insulin therapy is required to manage type 1 diabetes, there are new immunotherapies on the horizon that could prevent or delay the condition. One such treatment, teplizumab, which has been found to delay a diagnosis of type 1 diabetes by on average three years, is currently being reviewed for approval in the UK. To sign up to the T1DRA study visit: t1dra.bristol.ac.uk.
