We are excited to share our newest publication in the Nordic Journal of Psychiatry, “Multicenter screening for ADHD among school-age pediatric patients with type 1 diabetes – study protocol.”

Congratulations to the co-first authors, Hanna Kuśmierczyk-Kozieł, M.D. and Arkadiusz Michalak, M.D., as well as the other members of our Department involved in this work, including Jędrzej Chrzanowski, Katarzyna Błaziak, Prof. Wojciech Fendler, and Prof. Agnieszka Butwicka and our collaborators from the Department of Pediatrics, Diabetology, Endocrinology and Nephrology, Medical University of Lodz, Hanna Kuśmierczyk-Kozieł, MD, Arkadiusz Michalak, MD, prof. Beata Mianowska, prof. Agnieszka Szadkowska, Anna Kaczmarek, PhD, Aleksandra Nowak, MS.

ADHD is a prevalent neurodevelopmental disorder affecting approximately 5% of the pediatric population. Children with type 1 diabetes (T1D) have an even higher risk of ADHD, and unrecognized ADHD can negatively impact T1D control. Despite guidelines recommending neurodevelopmental assessments in T1D, there is a lack of specific protocols to identify ADHD in clinical practice. Our protocol describes a systematic approach for screening Polish children (8–16 years old) with T1D for ADHD in a multicenter setting. It includes standardized questionnaires (the short Conners 3), onsite psychological consultations, and telepsychiatry evaluations. Our goal is to estimate the prevalence of ADHD in this patient group and to demonstrate a practical method for clinical implementation.

Comorbidity of ADHD and T1D is a significant yet underdiagnosed challenge in pediatric healthcare. Together with four pediatric diabetes centers across Poland, we aim to screen over 2,500 youth with T1D and expect to diagnose approximately 190 new cases of ADHD over the project’s 36 months. This study would not be possible without the support from the Polish Medical Research Agency (2021/ABM/02/00006/P/03). We hope that with this study protocol, we can illustrate a structured, multidisciplinary approach to uncovering and addressing ADHD in children with T1D.

You can read the manuscript here and learn more about our LAMAinDiab clinical trial for further details on screening and intervention in this special population.