BWC to take part in national Type 1 Diabetes trial to prevent or delay the condition
We’re proud to be taking part in the ELSA Trials, set to screen 20,000 children across the UK for Type 1 diabetes to identify children likely to develop the condition allowing for diagnosis and prevention.
Our hospital will be the first Clinical Research Facility to be open for the Early Surveillance for Autoimmune Diabetes (ELSA) Trial expecting 300 patients with positive blood screen tests for diabetes. Around 50 of these will have Type 1 Diabetes and will go onto the next phase of the ELSA Trial. 
Launching on World Diabetes Day (14 November), the trial aims to recruit children aged 3-13 years old to assess their likelihood of developing Type 1 Diabetes. The trial is being funded by Diabetes UK and Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF) and is being led by researchers at the University of Birmingham who will be testing children for markers in the blood called autoantibodies to earmark insulin-producing cells, to be destroyed. Autoantibodies are associated with the development of type 1 diabetes and can appear years down the line before beginning to experience any symptoms.
Patients at high-risk will be eligible for the study, which will use cutting-edge immunotherapies to prevent or delay the condition. The trial is now live and will extend to 2025.
Professor Tim Barrett, Honorary consultant paediatric endocrinology and diabetes and Dr Renuka Dias, Principle Investigator and Consultant Paediatric Endocrinologist from our Children’s Hospital will be leading the study.
Professor Barrett said: “I have looked after children with diabetes at Birmingham Women's and Children's Hospital for over 30 years, and in that time seen the numbers of children affected rise dramatically. To date, there has been absolutely nothing I could do about it. With the launch of the ELSA study, for the first time we can identify children at risk of going on to get diabetes, step in to prevent them getting really sick, and even delay the onset with new medicines.
“I am so proud that this study has been developed in my city, to benefit children across the whole of the UK”.
Dr Dias said: “This is a massively important study which we are so excited to be part of and will be of huge importance not just nationally but internationally for Type 1 Diabetes care. It will have benefits for both early diagnosis but also preventative studies, both of which we are supporting with other linked studies.”
Children found to be at risk and their families will be offered support and education – including information on symptoms and management – to help prepare them for the diagnosis of type 1 diabetes. Families will also be offered the opportunity to be followed up in the long-term to enable closer monitoring and potentially to start insulin treatment sooner.
If you would like to enter your child into the screening, visit The ELSA Study website.