O-07: Nationwide type 1 diabetes screening in Czechia within the EDENT1FI study: 1% of the pediatric population screened
B Berka, O Cinek, V Neuman, N Chrastecka, K Hubackova, A Cermakova, S Owoeye, M Goetz, F Haupt, P Achenbach, L Overbergh, J Vercauteren, C Mathieu, A -G Ziegler, Z Sumnik, , EDENT1FI consortiumAbstract
Introduction
EDENT1FI is a European initiative aiming to implement a roadmap for screening, monitoring and prevention of type 1 diabetes (T1D). The Betty project is a nationwide T1D screening programme established in Czechia within this framework.
Objectives
Its goal is to detect children with early-stage T1D and offer them a follow-up based on their stage and individual progression risk. Here we report results after testing 1% of the Czech pediatric population.
Methods
The screening targets children aged 2 - 17.9 years regardless of their family history of T1D and is based on a two-tier testing of islet-specific autoantibodies (anti-GAD, anti-IA2, anti-ZnT8, IAA). First, a capillary blood sample is assessed using a combined ELISA detecting three of the autoantibodies and if positive, all four autoantibodies are tested using separate assays in the reference laboratory. If any autoantibodies are detected, the result is confirmed from a venous sample to establish diagnosis of early stage T1D. Children with early stage T1D are offered a follow-up tailored to their progression risk.
Results
The Betty project collected 19 049 samples from 270 screening sites and by home sampling between 11/2023 and 2/2026. The prevalence of multiple autoantibodies was 0.39% in the general population (n=63) and 2.8% among first-degree relatives (n=52), who accounted for 10.3% of the study population (n=1847). Of the children with confirmed early stage T1D, 83 had their stage assessed (92.8% were in stage 1 (n=77), 4.8% in stage 2 (n=4) and 2.4% in stage 3 (n=2)). All of them consented to follow up.
Conclusions
This T1D screening programme covering 1% of the pediatric population demonstrated feasibility, high efficacy and strong patient adherence to the protocol. Implementation of T1D screening within the national healthcare system is warranted. EDENT1FI is funded by IHI JU grant No 101132379.