In an opinion piece in Altinget.dk, Flemming Pociot and Finn Stensbjerg Kristensen highlight a gap in Danish healthcare.
Today, most children are diagnosed with type 1 diabetes (T1D) only once symptoms appear – often suddenly and sometimes through acute hospitalisation. For families, this means a life-changing diagnosis with little time to prepare. But it doesn’t have to be this way.
We now have the ability to detect T1D years before symptoms appear. Early detection can reduce acute complications, give families time to prepare, and open the door to new treatments that can delay disease progression.
These benefits extend beyond families – to the healthcare system and society as a whole.
Across Europe, countries are already acting. National frameworks and early T1D detection programmes are being implemented, while large-scale initiatives are accelerating progress. Denmark has the knowledge, the data and the infrastructure to do the same.
Through DiaUnion, early detection is already being demonstrated in practice.
This is also a central message in the Green Paper on early detection of T1D, which was launched at the conference at Christiansborg on 13 April together with Alliancen for T1Dlig Opsporing.
The next step is clear: early detection must move from research into a national public health offer. Because we already have what it takes.
