It is available online there complete guide to diabetes4 volumes edited by the specialists of theInstitute for Health of the Bambino Gesù Pediatric Hospital with clear, scientifically validated information and many suggestions to better manage the days of children and young people affected by this pathology, promoting their well-being and capacity for independence.
In the first part of the guide, which examines the diabetes in its various forms, causes, symptoms and cures add up 3 new volumes which deepen thesocial aspect of the disease with a series of indications to help families deal with daily situations with adequate tools of knowledge: from the time spent at school to sports; from trips to parties to managing the relationship with alcohol and cigarettes.
Among the topics in the foreground, the complications of diabetes, the management of sick days, vaccinations and a focus on carbohydrate counting and nutrition, also with reference to diets in the various cultures of the world (Mediterranean, vegetarian, oriental) . Finally, a large chapter is dedicated to new technologies that facilitate the control of the disease and the administration of therapies.
The most advanced technology that is applied today to diabetes in the developmental age is made up of a continuous glucose monitoring system which, through a mathematical algorithm, is associated with a continuous insulin delivery system (pump that modulates insulin according to to the glycemic trend): these are automatic devices that approach a artificial pancreas and are called “advanced hybrid systems”.
The Endocrinology and Diabetology Unit of the Bambino Gesù Pediatric Hospital, a national and international reference for the treatment of complex endocrine-metabolic pathologies, uses these highly automated systems for about 1,700 patients with type 1 diabetes.
More generally, in 2022 to the Infant Jesus were followed in day hospital quasi 2,200 children and adolescents diabetics and were made approx 130 new diagnoses of type 1 diabetes mellitus, the most frequent endocrine pathology in childhood. This is a very large series that fits into a context of rapid increase in the incidence of the disease worldwide, especially among school and pre-school age children. The COVID-19 pandemic has given further impetus to the phenomenon: at the Pediatric Hospital of the Holy See in 2021-2022 there was an increase of over 35% in cases of patients hospitalized for type 1 diabetes onset compared to the years 2018-2020 .