World Diabetes Day
What is CF diabetes?
Cystic fibrosis diabetes (CFD) is common in adults and adolescents with cystic fibrosis. Nearly three in 10 (28.7%) people with CF over the age of 10 years old are receiving treatment for CFD according to the UK CF Registry’s 2022 Annual Data Report, published in September.
CF diabetes develops in the pancreas when not enough insulin is produced, or when insulin does not work properly. CFD is different from type 1 and type 2 diabetes, but has features of both.
How is the Trust supporting people with CF diabetes?
At Cystic Fibrosis Trust we’re supporting people with CF and their CF teams about diagnosing, treating and managing CFD. Here are a few examples:
Updating clinical guidelines on the management of CF diabetes
At the end of last year, a working group updated the guidelines on how CF diabetes should be managed, and you can read more information about the new guideline, and why these guidelines are so important.
More about the CFD clinical guidelines
Supporting the CL4P-CF trial
We are supporting the CL4P-CF study through our Clinical Trials Accelerator Platform (CTAP). This is looking at whether an automated insulin system can reduce the burden of self-management and improve glucose control for people with CFD. People from the CF community contributed to the design of the study through the Trust’s Involvement group.
This study is currently open to recruitment.
Funding research to understand CFD and prevent it from developing
We are funding a Strategic Research Centre (SRC) research programme, led by Professor Jim Shaw at the University of Newcastle to understand how and why CFD develops by studying in detail what is happening in the pancreas. The researchers hope that these studies will improve how CFD is treated, and in the future allow doctors to have more accurate ways to detect when CFD is likely to develop.
Understanding the cause of CF diabetes is a very complex area. The research funding from Cystic Fibrosis Trust means we have been able to bring world leading experts together to work collaboratively. As a result, we’re gathering momentum towards transformative therapies for CF diabetes.
Professor Jim Shaw, Newcastle University
Addressing your research priorities about CFD
In the refreshed CF research priorities identified in November last year CFD was mentioned in two of your top 10 research priorities: in understanding the effects of CFTR modulator medicines outside of the lungs and in preventing CFD from developing.
We are currently in discussions with CF diabetes experts and other diabetes research funders to agree the best way to understand and answer these important research questions.