Type 1 Diabetes in Children
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Table of Contents

Table of Contents. 2 Keywords. 3 Introduction. 3 Literature Matrix. 4 Literature Reflection. 13 Which Study Was Easiest to Use and Understand?. 13 Learnings From the Research. 13 Which Study Was the Most Challenging to Use and Understand?. 14 The Similarities and Differences Between the Studies. 15 The Qualities in the Study Design. 15 Main Findings From The Studies Reviewed. 16 Priorities for Future Research. 16 Literature Proposal 16 Research Question. 17 Solution. 17 Deliverables and Success Criteria. 18 Plan or Approach to Find Out the Information. 18 Project Schedule. 19 Project Duration – Gantt Chart 20 Conclusions. 20 Recommendations. 21 References. 22 Appendix A: Project Plan. 25
Keywords
Type 1 diabetes, children, prevalence, healthcare complications, diabetes type 1
Introduction
Type 1 diabetes remains one of the leading global diseases with far-reaching consequences on the patient’s quality of life. Whicher et al. (2020) report that the disease represents a commonplace endocrine disorder among youths. Patterson et al. (2019) support this observation by indicating that this metabolic disease has increased in the childhood period in different global regions. The magnitude of this disease is concerning, considering that statistics reveal approximately 98,200 children below the age of 15 develop this condition yearly across the globe (Patterson et al., 2019). The researcher further indicates that estimates project that the world has over 600,900 children within this age bracket living with the condition. Statistics also vary from one region to another. According to Whicher et al. (2020), most children diagnosed with diabetes in the UK are between 10 – 14 years old. They also indicate that 90% of UK children with diabetes have this categorisation. The concerning aspect is that this disease comes with diverse challenges ranging from complicated care and lack of appropriate services that worsen its management at the facility and individual level. Patterson et al. (2019) recognize that an individual with type 1 diabetes should adhere to a strict lifestyle routine and health-related practices that comprise careful insulin injection, healthy behaviour to control blood glucose, and sufficient exercise. A failure to follow such a self-management schedule increases the probability of complications that can lead to life-threatening conditions, the rise of disabilities, or even mortality. Coolen et al. (2021) identify the various complications that can emerge due to ignorance, wrongful application, or underestimation of the seriousness of type 1 diabetes in children. As a result, they emphasise the importance of following the recommended protocols to improve the patient’s quality of life and underline that these practices and requirements are lifelong. The sensitivity of type 1 diabetes demonstrates the importance of exploring this disease among children to identify mechanisms for reducing the adverse outcomes in the affected population.
Literature Matrix
Title, Author, and YearPurpose of the StudySample (who were the participants, and how many)Implications of result on the practiceFurther research required – what else needs to be understood?Systematic ReviewThe article’s title is “The impact of hypoglycemia on quality of life and related outcomes in children and adolescents with type 1 diabetes: A systematic review” (Coolen et al., 2021).The study sought to investigate the existing knowledge about the relationship between quality of life and hypoglycemia in type 1 diabetes children. It also critically appraises the available evidence to determine the related outcomes of the two variables. This study incorporates an assessment of other research articles through a systematic review. As a result, it does not include human participants. Instead, it includes studies that satisfy specific inclusion criteria like using children in their investigation, focusing on hypoglycemia, and published within a specific timeline and in a reputable journal, among many others. The inconclusive evidence from this study indicates that healthcare providers should continue investigating the impacts of severe hypoglycemia and its relationship to type 1 diabetes for appropriate care. Clinicians should remain away from the grey areas in the care of diabetic patients when they suffer hypoglycemia. As a result, they should be more vigilant by asking more case and incident-specific questions. Researchers should investigate the impacts of hypoglycemia episodes on the quality-of-life outcomes in diabetes type 1 patients. This understanding would inform tailored care for such patients. Intervention StudyTitle: Failure of glycated haemoglobin drop after continuous subcutaneous insulin infusion initiation may indicate patients who discontinue: A 4-year follow-up study in children and adolescents with type 1 diabetes.
Author: Lombardo et al.
Year: 2012Lombardo et al. (2012) assessed the rate of discontinuation and the associated reasons in type 1 pediatric patients. It used continuous subcutaneous insulin infusion (CSII) for the evaluation and further incorporated the concepts of disease-oriented and clinical features to identify existing associations with the decision to discontinue the CSII treatment. The researchers targeted diabetic type 1 patients from different healthcare facilities in Italy using CSII therapy. They only included individuals meeting a specific age range of below 18 years. The overall study population was 6,644. Measuring the discontinuation rate of using the CSII approach among the children was critical in this study. It exposed fundamental details that healthcare providers could address to improve compliance. The results of this study could assist the health care providers in evaluating patients more thoroughly and identifying the groups with an increased likelihood of discontinuing the therapy. Such an understanding would inform appropriate response strategies within the healthcare facilities. The researchers identify several gaps in research whose considerations would further improve the clinical practice. Researching these aspects, including the variations in compliance with various diabetes therapies such as diet, insulin injection, and glucose testing, in all phases of pump therapy among the therapy continuing and discontinuing patients would bring more clarity and new clinically-impacting information. Cross-sectional StudyTitle: Glucose-independent association of adiposity and diet composition with cardiovascular risk in children and adolescents with type 1 diabetes.
Author: Maffeis et al.
Year: 2017The central purpose of the study by Maffeis et al. (2017) was to investigate the effects of adiposity, the composition of the consumed diets, and hypometabolic control on the cardiovascular-associated risks for diabetic type 1 children and adolescents. The study population in this cross-sectional research included adolescents and children with diabetes type 1 recruited from a Verona-based clinic in Italy. They comprised 200 individuals aged less than 18 years, with a more than one-year diabetic onset before the recruitment time, and without other identifiable chronic conditions or eating disorders. The participants must also be Caucasian. Maffeis et al. (2017) has significant clinical implications. For instance, it demonstrates that healthcare providers should focus their intervention approaches when dealing with type 1 diabetic children and intending to reduce their cardiovascular risks. In this context, they should desist from inclining towards blood glucose control only. Instead, they should combine and integrate the diet’s macronutrient composition and adiposity to improve health outcomes. The fact that the study only incorporated participants from one ethnicity reveals a research gap that researchers should conduct more investigations. For instance, it would be critical to understanding whether children from other ethnicities would have similar results to the ones presented by Maffeis et al. (2017) since one cannot generalise the current ones. The second area that would demand research is whether the physical activity component also plays a significant implication in the outcomes to inform clinical practice. Cohort StudyTitle: Higher risk of thyroid disorders in young patients with type 1 diabetes: A 12-year nationwide, population-based, retrospective cohort study.
Author: Lu et al.
Year: 2016.The research by Lu et al. (2016) purposed to investigate thyroid disorders incidence rates in a group of patients with type 1 diabetes. Understanding these statistics would inform the appropriate intervention measures to address the two diseases or reduce the risks of patients developing the former. The researchers approached their study retrospectively using existing databases. As a result, they do not use any study participants. However, they selected two specific databases as the sources for their secondary research. They comprised the catastrophic illness and the longitudinal health insurance research of 2000. The results of this study by Chu et al. (2016) are far-reaching in the clinical context. For instance, they reveal that children with type 1 diabetes are more likely to present with thyroid disorders. As a result, this understanding prompts the healthcare providers to increase their vigilance in identifying the early signs of this disease in type 1 diabetes children for proper management because it also contributes to improvements in overall health and control of diabetes. The research focused on one autoimmune disorder related to diabetes. As a result, it opens a new concern that the risks of other related conditions may also increase in children with type 1 diabetes. As a result, this understanding hints at the need for additional research exploring the relationship of diabetes with such conditions and further informing their management in the presence of type 1 diabetes. Longitudinal StudyTitle: Subclinical left ventricular longitudinal and radial systolic dysfunction in children and adolescents with type 1 diabetes mellitus.
Author: Altun et al.
Year: 2016Altun and colleagues aim to investigate the left ventricular echocardiographic symptoms in diabetic type 1 children. They also investigate the correlation between diabetes duration or metabolic control and cardiac functionality. Altun et al. (2016) study participants were children with a mean age of 14.1 years. The researchers also included a control group of children with comparable characteristics with a mean age of 13.7 years. Moreover, the total number of participants was84 individuals from both gender, males and females. The study’s results significantly impacted caring for the cardiovascular health of children with type 1 diabetes. It revealed that the experimental group reported comparatively lower values of different measures for evaluating cardiovascular health. As a result, healthcare providers can use two-dimensional speckle tracking echocardiography to flag the early onset of heart-related complications in diabetes type 1 patients and initiate prompt care. Although the research unearths critical information about the influence of glycemic control in the emergence of myocardial interferences among patients, it does not present the magnitude of the disruption. Perhaps, investigating this factor may further inform the practice and determine the aggressiveness of counteracting measures to maintain the quality health outcomes of a patient. 
Literature Reflection
Which Study Was Easiest to Use and Understand?
The study by Maffeis et al. (2016) was the easiest to use and understand. A major aspect that distinguishes it from the rest is that it uses a few variables that make following the research design, analysis, and discussion sections straightforward. Although the research is scientific, it also uses less jargon and practice-related vocabularies that make it easy for one to decipher the researchers’ message without re-reading the content or conducting additional research to understand specific concepts. It was interesting how the authors brought out the ideas throughout this paper, preparing one for the results section from the introduction. For instance, the introduction clarifies and distinguishes the various ideas about glycemic control in diabetes type 1 patients and the influence of other practices, including diet consumption and adiposity (Maffeis et al., 2016). It also analyses the data systematically, providing sufficient content dissecting each variable, which makes it easy to comprehend the inferences of the researchers in the discussion part. As a result, these technical elements make this study the most interesting to read.
Learnings From the Research
Although I was aware that type 1 diabetes increases disease vulnerability in patients, the results from Lu et al.’s (2016) study that it directly leads to increased risks for thyroid autoimmunity represents some new learnings emerging from this research. It was an eye-opener to interact with the statistic and evidence-packed article that explored different dynamics of the relationship between diabetes and thyroid incidences in children. It led to the learning that this condition increases incidences of diverse unspecified hypothyroidism, thyrotoxicosis, and thyroiditis with significant ratios (Lu et al., 2016). Moreover, the article by Maffeis et al. (2016) also refined my understanding of the need to take a more comprehensive intervention approach to reduce cardiovascular vulnerability in patients with type 1 diabetes. It emphasised the value of complementing glycometabolic control, which forms the major approach, with the composition of the meals consumed by the patient and adiposity. Such learnings are fundamental because they expand one’s perspective of addressing and caring for the diverse issues facing children with type 1 diabetes.
Which Study Was the Most Challenging to Use and Understand?
Altun et al.’s (2016) article about cardiovascular dysfunctions and diabetes type 1 in children and adolescents was the most challenging to understand. It required one to re-read and even conduct external research about specific concepts. The researcher adopts a complex organisation and presentation style for this study. They e...