Hundreds of people with type 1 diabetes, their families and healthcare professionals have chosen their most pressing research priorities for type 1 diabetes. The top ten priorities will help to guide future type 1 diabetes research in the UK and Ireland to make sure it has the greatest possible benefit for people with the condition.
As the UK’s largest charitable funder of diabetes research, it’s critical that our research funds address the specific challenges and needs of people with diabetes and those who care for them.
It’s also critical that we make sure others - academics, healthcare professionals and other research funders – hear these views loud and clear and act upon them.
We work with the Priority Setting Partnership (PSP) initiative, run by the James Lind Alliance (JLA) and supported by the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR), to help bring the views of people with real-life experience of diabetes into research.
Through surveys and workshops, this initiative finds and prioritises their most pressing concerns and questions that can be answered through research. Diabetes UK contributed to the first Type 1 Diabetes PSP in 2011, the Diabetes and Pregnancy PSP in 2020, and led the Type 2 Diabetes PSP in 2017.
Your new top ten priorities
Since the last Type 1 Diabetes PSP in 2011 there's been some big changes in type 1 treatment and care, so the priorities were due an update. The latest Type 1 PSP – which condensed and whittled down nearly 3000 questions submitted by people affected by type 1 to a shortlist of the top ten – has just been published. And here they are:
1. Can the use of artificial intelligence or faster acting insulins help achieve fully closed loop insulin delivery?
2. Is time in range a better predictor of diabetes management and complications compared to HbA1c (an average reading of blood sugar over a 3-month period)?
3. What impact do hormonal phases such as the perimenstrual period and menopause play in glycaemic management and what treatments are most effective for managing glucose levels around these times?
4. What interventions are the most effective for reducing diabetes related distress and burnout?
5. What are the long-term implications of frequent hypoglycaemia on physical and mental health?
6. What impact does type 1 diabetes (including frequent low blood sugar) have on memory and cognition in older adults?
7. How can health care professionals better take into account the physical, psychological and social aspects of type 1 diabetes in clinics?
8. How can access to potential therapies like stem cell therapy, transplants and medications that modify the immune systems be improved so that everyone with type 1 diabetes can be guaranteed access?
9. Why do some people with type 1 diabetes become insulin resistant and does resistance increase with the number of years a person has diabetes and if so, why?
10. Can technology assist to accurately count carbohydrates without having to weigh or measure all foods and drink?
Dr Christine Newman, Lead Clinical Researcher at the Health Research Board Diabetes Collaborative Clinical Trial Network in Ireland who funded the PSP, emphasised the importance of these findings:
“This study is a powerful example of how Public and Patient Involvement can shape the future of healthcare. This work highlights the real-world challenges and unmet needs of adults living with Type 1 diabetes. By focusing on these top ten priorities, we can ensure that future research and healthcare services are aligned with what truly matters to those affected by the condition.”
What next?
We will use these top 10 research priorities in the decisions it makes about how research is funded, and they will inform the work of the Diabetes Research Steering Groups.
We will also publicise these priorities widely to researchers and organisations that fund diabetes research. The priorities could influence those who work in universities and academic institutions, government agencies or in industry.
Dr Elizabeth Robertson, Director of Research at Diabetes UK, explains:
“We need to make sure research that we fund has the greatest possible benefit for people with diabetes. Knowing the most important priorities of people living with or treating type 1 diabetes will help us direct funding to where it’s needed most.”
