Striving for control: lessons learned from a successful international Type 1 Diabetes Youth Challenge

To demonstrate whether young people with T1D using modern insulin treatment and CGM could successfully participate in extreme sport activity while maintaining good glycemic control.

The challenge took place in Crete/Greece over 4 days combining a long-distance trek of different levels of severity with final destination the summit of the White Mountains at 2080 m. Eleven participants (5/6 female/male, age 18.2 ± 1.3 years, T1D duration 7.9 ± 3.5 years, HbA1c 7.3 ± .7% (56 ± 16 mmol/mol); mean ± SD) from 11 SWEET centers in Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Germany, Greece, France, India, Italy, Portugal, Slovenia and Sweden participated to the challenge. Five participants were on CSII, six on MDI; all were wearing a continuous glucose monitoring system. The glycemic targets during trekking were defined as 80-180 mg/dl (4.4-10 mmol/l).

All participants completed the challenge. In total, the group walked 54.5 km under varying climate conditions (temperature 14-35 °C). During the challenge, insulin requirements decreased significantly compared to baseline: total daily insulin by 31.1 ± 16.7% (p < .001), basal by 30.8 ± 14.9% (p < .001), and prandial by 32.5 ± 28.0% (p = .023), with no differences between participants with CSII or MDI. No episode of severe hypoglycemia or DKA occurred. Mean glucose levels were 170.7 ± 60.1 mg/dl with 61.5 ± 18.7% of CGM values in the target range, 5.4 ± 5.4% under 80 mg/dl and 32.8 ± 16.6% above 180 mg/dl.

The results of this SWEET Initiative activity demonstrated that well-educated adolescents and young adults with T1D using modern insulin treatments are able to perform successfully even extraordinary physical challenges while maintaining good glycemic control without diabetes-related acute complications.