“Jockey Club Youth Diabetes Support Program: Providing Comprehensive Care for Young Diabetic Patients”

In the past, when people talked about diabetes, they generally focused more on older patients. In fact, the incidence of type 1 and type 2 diabetes among young people is on the rise. They face greater challenges in disease control and life. In view of this, the Children’s Diabetes Association launched the “Jockey Club Youth Diabetes Support Program” to provide comprehensive support for young patients.

Type 1 diabetes is caused by immune system problems, while type 2 diabetes is related to insufficient insulin secretion or resistance. In recent years, studies have found that the incidence of both type 1 and type 2 diabetes has increased under the age of 20. Prof. Ching Wan Ma, Head of the Division of Endocrinology and Diabetes (Academic Affairs), Department of Medicine and Therapeutics, Faculty of Medicine, CUHK, said, “It is worth noting that when patients with early-onset diabetes reach the age of 60, the risk of hospitalization, heart disease and kidney disease are all multiplied. rise.”

hypoglycemia can cause coma

Complications of diabetes include long-term heart and kidney problems, ketoacidosis caused by a sudden spike in blood sugar, and weakness, hunger, unconscious behavior, and even coma when blood sugar drops too low. Serious consequences. These situations often occur in people with type 1 diabetes, and blood sugar control is particularly important. Generally, 4 injections or more of insulin are injected every day, and blood sugar is checked 4 to 8 times to help control the disease. Lu Jiemin, a specialist nurse in the diabetes department, pointed out that “some patients may be afraid of hypoglycemia symptoms affecting their work, and prefer to reduce insulin injections by themselves, making it difficult to control blood sugar.” Among them, continuous blood glucose monitor (CGM) helps them monitor and control blood sugar for a long time .

Long-term continuous monitoring of blood glucose

CGM detects the blood sugar level of the subcutaneous interstitial fluid, which can reduce the pain of the patient’s “finger-tapping” blood sugar test, and because of the long-term continuous monitoring of blood sugar, it can provide the trend of blood sugar rise and fall, so that patients can take medication or supplement sugar in time. Dr. Yijun Zhou, Assistant Professor of the Department of Internal Medicine and Therapeutics, Faculty of Medicine, CUHK continued, “Patients can reduce the anxiety and psychological burden of hypoglycemia, help patients plan their lives, and help improve medication compliance. In addition, after CGM is connected to a mobile phone, it can By uploading blood glucose data to the cloud, medical staff can use the data to better understand the patient’s condition and adjust treatment strategies.” However, CGM costs more than 1,000 to 3,000 Hong Kong dollars per month, which deters many patients.

May reduce medical expenses

The Children’s Diabetes Association launched the “Jockey Club Young Diabetes Support Program” for diabetic patients aged 2 to 30 in Hong Kong, providing CGM for two years; Chairman Cheng Feng Liangqi said, “The program will hold diabetes education support activities such as lectures, etc., to enhance patients’ and Caregiver’s awareness of disease can improve disease management.” The CUHK team will also collect data from participants to analyze whether CGM can improve patient’s disease management and quality of life; it will also study the cost-effectiveness of CGM, whether it can reduce hospitalization, Medical expenses for serious complications.

I feel sleepy at night

Mr. Ding, who participated in the project, has a 3-year-old daughter with type 1 diabetes. When he was first diagnosed, he had to stop working to take care of his daughter. In addition, he re-learned nutrition knowledge and felt a lot of pressure. He also had to help his daughter measure blood sugar and inject insulin frequently. . Because she was worried that her daughter would fall into a coma due to low blood sugar during sleep, she had to get up in the middle of the night every night to point fingers for her. Now switching to CGM, Mr. Ding can monitor the trend of blood sugar, and if necessary, “remotely control” the domestic helper to deal with high or low blood sugar. Also because CGM has a low blood sugar warning function, he feels sleepy at night.

Originally published on AM730