The American Diabetes Association has announced that it will be lowering its target recommendation for blood glucose levels in children suffering from Type 1 diabetes.
The new recommendations were released in order to keep up with current scientific evidence and to line up more closely with those issued by the International Society for Pediatric and Adolescent Diabetes (ISPAD), an American Diabetes Association news release reported.
The Association now recommends children under the age of 19 who have been diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes should work to maintain A1C levels ("a test that reflects average blood glucose levels over several months") below 7.5 percent, the news release reported
The previous target A1C levels were: 8.6 percent for children under the age of six, 8.0 for children between the ages of six and 12, and 7.5 for adolescents. The recommendations were based on the concern that low blood glucose could lead to health complications.
High blood glucose levels can lead to the development of serious issues, such as kidney and cardiovascular diseases. In the past it was believed that this was only true for adults, but new research suggests these complications can develop in children as well.
"The evidence shows that there is a greater risk of harm from prolonged hyperglycemia that would occur if children maintained an A1C of 8.5 percent over time. This is not to say we are no longer concerned about hypoglycemia, but we now have better tools to monitor for hypoglycemia," Jane Chiang, MD, Senior Vice President, Medical and Community Affairs, American Diabetes Association and one of the lead authors on the Association's Position Statement, said in the news release.
"The 7.5 percent target is evidence-based; however, we want to emphasize that blood glucose and A1C targets must be individualized to safely achieve the best outcomes," she said.
The researchers also stressed the difference between the treatment of Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes.
"Type 1 diabetes requires intensive insulin management that differs from how type 2 is managed," Anne Peters, MD, FACP, Professor, Keck School of Medicine, at the University of Southern California and another of the paper's authors, said in the news release. "People with type 1 require more supplies and must monitor their blood glucose levels more often. This is not a one-size-fits-all disease, and it's important that we recognize that."
