Total care for juvenile diabetics--a Swedish experiment

A Swedish Study Group for Childhood Diabetes has recently prepared a national treatment and care programme for diabetes in children and adolescents, which is briefly presented in this paper. The programme is based on the working hypothesis that long-term vascular and neurological complications - still the most serious threats to the well-being and survival of juvenile diabetics - may be prevented by continuously maintaining a normal or near-normal blood glucose level. Four levels (I--IV) of metabolic control are being defined, of which level I is the optimal goal and level II acceptable, while levels III and IV are regarded as inadequate. To achieve a satisfactory therapeutic result great efforts are required by both patients and the diabetic health teams at the pediatric clinics. In addition to insulin, diet and exercise, great emphasis should be laid on home-monitoring of blood glucose and glycosuria, on patient education and on psychological support both to the children and to their families. The therapeutic team should understand the psychological problems which frequently occur in diabetic families and be able to guide them through the different stages of the disease until the patients reach psychosocial maturity. The programme thus aims at providing a total - biological, functional, emotional and social - care for diabetic children and adolescents, and at thereby improving their quality of life on a long-term basis.