Scotland first in world to use new diabetes test

[JohnEGreen]

"Scotland will become the first country in the world to use the simple C-peptide blood test."

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-59095948

Sounds good but if it works we will all have to move to Scotland iat the moment f we want to avail ouselves of it.

 

[JoKalsbeek]

"Scotland will become the first country in the world to use the simple C-peptide blood test."

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-59095948

Sounds good but if it works we will all have to move to Scotland iat the moment f we want to avail ouselves of it.

I don't really have any problems moving. Does a C-peptide test come with a haunted castle and a loch here and there?

 

[JohnEGreen]

I don't really have any problems moving. Does a C-peptide test come with a haunted castle and a loch here and there?

Would be nice if it did.

 

[EllieM]

Hmm, looks to me that they are just giving it to people who've been diagnosed with T1 for 3 years, in the hope of getting them off insulin and rediagnosing them as T2.

No mention of the converse unfortunately. And I would hardly describe it as a new test, though maybe it's new the way they are using it.

Scary that the doctor says there are many cases of misdiagnosed T1s. I always thought it was the other way round.

Still, given the inaccuracies in the article, I guess we can hope that the test will be given to T2s as well....

 

[JohnEGreen]

Hmm, looks to me that they are just giving it to people who've been diagnosed with T1 for 3 years, in the hope of getting them off insulin and rediagnosing them as T2.

No mention of the converse unfortunately. And I would hardly describe it as a new test, though maybe it's new the way they are using it.

Scary that the doctor says there are many cases of misdiagnosed T1s. I always thought it was the other way round.

Still, given the inaccuracies in the article, I guess we can hope that the test will be given to T2s as well....

I do agree but maybe a step in the right direction after all if some one has been misdiagnosed it is best to determin that and correct the situation if possible also there is the possibility that T2s may be offered the test at some point to determine the accuracy of their diagnosis as T1s do often get misdianosed as T2 we will have to wait and see.

 

[AloeSvea]

You can get a c-peptide on the state for asking in Aotearoa also! (As lovely as Scotland is .)

 

[Dark Horse]

The link to the research it is based on is here:- https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/dme.14449

 

[Dark Horse]

I would hardly describe it as a new test,

The reporting isn't very clear but the test is a (relatively) new way of measuring C-peptide which was developed by the University of Exeter and is simpler and cheaper than the old way of measuring it which means it can be offered to more people.

An article from 2019 says, "C-peptide tests used to be expensive and inaccurate, but thanks to Exeter’s research this changed. Their scientists developed a new, simpler way to measure C-peptide. This has meant many more people with diabetes can benefit." https://www.diabetes.org.uk/about_us/news/exeter-scientists-improve-diabetes-diagnosis

 

[EllieM]

The cause of diabetes was reclassified in 58 individuals (6.8% of the tested cohort). The majority of reclassifications were to type 2 diabetes (44 individuals; 5.1%), with a smaller proportion of monogenic diabetes (14 individuals; 1.6%).

That's a lot of people misdiagnosed as T1.
Would love to know if anyone of them were childhood diagnosed, though am guessing the study just shows how hard it is to correctly diagnose adult diabetics.

 

[ert]

"Scotland will become the first country in the world to use the simple C-peptide blood test."

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-59095948

Sounds good but if it works we will all have to move to Scotland iat the moment f we want to avail ouselves of it.

Yes, it looks like GP's will be using it in Scotland instead of just specialists in a lot of other locations.

 

[Member496333]

About time. The sixty-four million dollar question then becomes - what is the recommended course of therapy for those already bursting at the seams with their own endogenous insulin...low fat diet? Fast forward another fifty years for an update on how things are going

 

[jackois]

The reporting isn't very clear but the test is a (relatively) new way of measuring C-peptide which was developed by the University of Exeter and is simpler and cheaper than the old way of measuring it which means it can be offered to more people.

An article from 2019 says, "C-peptide tests used to be expensive and inaccurate, but thanks to Exeter’s research this changed. Their scientists developed a new, simpler way to measure C-peptide. This has meant many more people with diabetes can benefit." https://www.diabetes.org.uk/about_us/news/exeter-scientists-improve-diabetes-diagnosis

Thanks for clearing that up.

I read the BBC article on this and the 'new' less expensive test wasn't mentioned. I was originally diagnosed in my mid fifties, after presenting with the classic signs. Possibly, as my bg was so high, I was referred straight to hospital where they confirmed the type diagnosis with a c-peptide test and got me started on insulin and diabetes education.

I thought everybody had a c-peptide test on diagnosis, but I suspect it doesn't happen that way...

 

[JohnEGreen]

I thought everybody had a c-peptide test on diagnosis, but I suspect it doesn't happen that way...

Unfortunately no it does not I was refused a c-pep test when I asked for one.

 

[DEBBIESCOTT]

I’ve had one this summer & a gad test
24 years after ogt confirming gestational diabetes that didn’t go away,

 

[Dark Horse]

Thanks for clearing that up.

I read the BBC article on this and the 'new' less expensive test wasn't mentioned. I was originally diagnosed in my mid fifties, after presenting with the classic signs. Possibly, as my bg was so high, I was referred straight to hospital where they confirmed the type diagnosis with a c-peptide test and got me started on insulin and diabetes education.

I thought everybody had a c-peptide test on diagnosis, but I suspect it doesn't happen that way...

The diabetes consultant who helped instigate the sytenatic testing, Mark Strachan, says in this podcast that he doesn't recommend testing for C-peptide at the time of diagnosis. Instead, he suggests testing at 3 years after diagnosis.

The reasoning is that, at diagnosis, people with type 1 may be in the honeymoon period and still producing insulin (and, therefore, C-peptide). Also, people with newly-diagnosed type 2 may have low levels of insulin (and C-peptide) due to glucotoxicity which may recover when they achieve diabetic control. https://soundcloud.com/diabetic-medicine/abc-antibody-beta-cell-chromosome

 

[JohnEGreen]

Why 3 years as a T2 can achieve control quite quickly and for a T1 could it not become critical in less than 3 years I don know I must admit how long a honeymoon period can last on average.

 

[Lamont D]

How many people with endocrine conditions have been given insulin as a treatment, but don't need it? How many have too much insulin, along with insulin resistance, or hyperinsulinaemia? Given diabetes meds because of a lack of insulin level tests!
How many have a form of Hypoglycaemia and diagnosed with T2?
It just doesn't make sense, not to be tested.

However, this test should be included in the full blood panel tests, along with Hba1c, liver and kidney function test, cholesterol and so on.

 

[JohnEGreen]

How many people with endocrine conditions have been given insulin as a treatment, but don't need it? How many have too much insulin, along with insulin resistance, or hyperinsulinaemia? Given diabetes meds because of a lack of insulin level tests!
How many have a form of Hypoglycaemia and diagnosed with T2?
It just doesn't make sense, not to be tested.

However, this test should be included in the full blood panel tests, along with Hba1c, liver and kidney function test, cholesterol and so on.

Absolutely

 

[ert]

The diabetes consultant who helped instigate the sytenatic testing, Mark Strachan, says in this podcast that he doesn't recommend testing for C-peptide at the time of diagnosis. Instead, he suggests testing at 3 years after diagnosis.

The reasoning is that, at diagnosis, people with type 1 may be in the honeymoon period and still producing insulin (and, therefore, C-peptide). Also, people with newly-diagnosed type 2 may have low levels of insulin (and C-peptide) due to glucotoxicity which may recover when they achieve diabetic control. https://soundcloud.com/diabetic-medicine/abc-antibody-beta-cell-chromosome

For most the honeymoon period for a type 1 is less than a year. A clear diagnosis of type 1 is c-peptide of less than 0.2 nmol/l on diagnosis which I had. There are fewer cases that take up to 5 years to reach this low level. I would have ended up in hospital with DKA if I had to wait 3 years for a c-peptide test.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5446389/
https://www.hindawi.com/journals/crie/2021/3511281/

 

[Dark Horse]

The average honeymoon for a type 1 is mostly less than a year. A clear diagnosis of type 1 is c-peptide of less than 0.2 nmol/l on diagnosis which I had. There are fewer cases that take up to 5 years to reach this low level. I would have ended up in hospital with DKA if I had to wait 3 years for a c-peptide test.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5446389/
https://www.hindawi.com/journals/crie/2021/3511281/

I would have ended up in hospital with DKA if I had to wait 3 years for a c-peptide test.

Why would that be? These people would be on insulin for those 3 years, as I assume you were.