This international consensus statement, developed using a nominal group technique, provides guidance on principles and practice for implementing **general population screening for islet autoantibodies (IAbs)** to diagnose early-stage type 1 diabetes before clinical insulin-requiring onset.
The consensus establishes minimum requirements for effective population IAb screening programmes, noting that early-stage detection prevents DKA (which affects 20–67% of children/adolescents at clinical diagnosis), enables outpatient insulin initiation, improves long-term glucose management, and allows access to disease-modifying therapies that delay clinical onset.
- Based on expert consensus (nominal group technique), not primary trial data — evidence level is largely expert opinion rather than RCT-derived. - No specific screening programme outcomes (e.g., sensitivity, specificity, cost-effectiveness data) are reported in the abstract or available full text. - Full implementation details and screening test thresholds are not fully extractable from the provided text.
Clinicians and health systems should consider structured IAb screening programmes for the general paediatric population, as early-stage type 1 diabetes detection significantly reduces DKA risk and opens access to delay-of-onset therapies. Meeting the consensus minimum requirements is key before launching any programme.
Explore related topics
