ATTD Yearbook addresses a growing interest in the development of new and advanced technologies and devices for the treatment of diabetes,

which has resulted in numerous manuscripts in medical journals relating to this topic.

The ATTD YEARBOOK reflects innovations in the treatment of diabetes, combining a selection of the most relevant published data from this very broad field with a critical review of the most important articles selected by key opinion leaders.

Läs årets ATTD bok, free, pdf, kommer närmaste veckan digitalt

https://attd.kenes.com/attd-yearbook/

 

 

Some Top Diabetes News: ATTD 2026

https://diatribe.org/diabetes-research/top-diabetes-news-attd-2026?zone=1&cat=8&utm_source=diaTribe&utm_campaign=b4ccc06dfa-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_LEARN_560&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_-e42c070d76-153021195

Big new insights on diabetes treatments, technology, and risks emerged from the 2026 Advanced Technologies & Treatments for Diabetes (ATTD) conference in Barcelona. Here’s what matters most for people living with diabetes.

 

• Could Artificial ’Twins’ Transform Diabetes Care?

Automated insulin delivery (AID) systems perform a lot of the work of diabetes management, but they require settings adjustments to figure out what works best for meals, corrections, and daily routines.

In the opening session of ATTD, Boris Kovatchev, a mathematics professor and director of the UVA Center for Diabetes Technology, talked about how AI can be used to make that process easier. He explained how a “digital twin,” or a virtual version of a person’s diabetes data, can test pump-setting changes before they’re applied in real life.

Kovatchev discussed a small study of 72 experienced AID users and found that when this interactive digital twin system was added, time in range increased from 72% to 77%. The biggest benefit was seen in people starting with an A1C above 7%.

He also explored how, in the future, AI could help fully automate insulin delivery, including mealtime dosing without requiring people to announce meals. Early research points to the possibility of these systems, but they’re still in the early stages of development.

💡 Why it matters: This research shows people may get better results when AID systems are adjusted to fit their needs, instead of asking them to adapt to the system. A digital twin could make that process safer and easier by testing changes before they are used in real life, with less guesswork and trial and error.

 

 

• Ketone Monitoring Could Significantly Reduce DKA Risks

Many cases of type 1 diabetes are diagnosed after a person has gone into diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA), a potentially life-threatening emergency marked by extremely high blood sugar levels that requires immediate medical attention.

A large new study of nearly 660,000 people in the U.K. found that over the last 23 years, the rates of DKA have risen sharply among people with diabetes. Though DKA is traditionally seen in people with type 1 diabetes, the study noted nearly a sixfold increase in DKA in people with type 2 diabetes. The data also found a high DKA recurrence rate, with nearly 32% of people with type 1 and 12% of people with type 2 having multiple DKA events.

Ketone tests using fingerpricks are highly effective in preventing DKA, but other new data from France and the U.S. found that blood ketone testing among people with diabetes is infrequently done, and healthcare providers report a lack of knowledge on ketone monitoring. Earlier this year, new international guidelines were published with recommendations for continuous ketone monitoring, which could significantly improve outcomes for people at risk of DKA. Abbott recently submitted a continuous dual glucose-ketone monitor to the FDA for clearance – if approved, it could be available in the U.S. later this year.

💡 Why it matters: Traditionally, ketones are measured using a urine test or with a blood ketone meter. Diabetes management is already a full-time job, and new technology like a DGK monitor could ease the burden of manual ketone testing. In addition, continuous tracking of ketones could help people catch early signs of DKA and euglycemic DKA, an uncommon but dangerous type of DKA associated with SGLT-2 inhibitors, where blood sugar levels are usually not very high.

 

• First-In-Human Islet Transplant Still Making Insulin at 14 Months

Transplants using insulin-producing cells allow people with type 1 diabetes to produce their own insulin, but most existing therapies require taking immunosuppressant drugs for life.

However, early research suggests that a new type of gene-edited donor islet cells can survive and keep working in a person with type 1 diabetes, without the need for immunosuppressive drugs. Developed by Sana Biotechnology, modified insulin-producing cells were transplanted into the forearm muscle of a man with long-standing type 1 diabetes. His immune system did not reject the cells, and he began producing insulin.

Data showed that at 14 months, the man’s C-peptide levels (a measure of a person’s ability to produce insulin) were comparable to those seen in the first six months, and were higher than at months nine and 12. No safety issues were identified. Sana is now planning a study of a new therapy in development, called SC451, which uses the same gene-editing strategy with lab-grown, stem-cell-derived insulin-producing cells.

💡 Why it matters: This is an early, but important sign that cell replacement therapy could one day work without the need for lifelong immune-suppressing drugs, which have safety risks. Experts caution that this is only one person and the dose used was intentionally low (about 2% to 7% of what would be needed) to evaluate the safety of this technique, so more testing will be necessary to see if it can provide long-term insulin independence and stable glucose levels.

 

• Widespread Screening Could Shift How Type 1 Diabetes Is Diagnosed

Most people with type 1 diabetes are diagnosed after symptoms appear. Many also experience diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA) at diagnosis, a serious complication when insulin levels are too low.

At ATTD, international researchers shared what population-wide screening looks like in the real world. These screening programs test for diabetes-related autoantibodies, which can show up years before insulin is needed. The goal is to find people in the early stages of type 1 diabetes to lower the risk of DKA at diagnosis and create a path to therapies like Tzield that delay progression. Another big reason to consider wider screening: About 85% of people newly diagnosed with type 1 do not have a family history of diabetes.

Italy has been the first country to mandate screening children for type 1 diabetes through a national law. Researchers at ATTD shared that the European EDENT1FI project

https://www.edent1fi.eu/

has now screened for early-stage type 1 diabetes in more than 100,000 children across 13 countries, with a goal of screening 200,000 children.

Researchers are also studying at what age it’s most effective to screen; antibody prevalence was shown to increase between ages 2 and 10. In Israel, researchers described both general population screening in young children and a separate program focused on family members of people with type 1. Early findings suggest these programs can reduce cases of DKA and other symptoms, as well as shorten time in the hospital after diagnosis. Earlier diagnosis can also preserve beta cell function, offering the possibility to delay the onset of type 1.

Experts also highlighted the need to consider how screening results are communicated and the importance of supporting families after diagnosis of early-stage type 1 diabetes. Families need reliable information, emotional support, and help avoiding misinformation or unproven self-treatment strategies.

💡 Why it matters: Population-wide screening could help shift type 1 diabetes from a diagnosis made in crisis to one managed proactively. The research presented suggests that large-scale screening is feasible. Making screening part of routine care will depend on ensuring accurate testing, family education and support, as well as sustainable follow-up systems.

 

• The Link Between Jardiance and Ketone Levels – for T1DM??

Jardiance (empagliflozin) is a medication that can help people with type 2 diabetes manage their blood sugar. Some evidence has shown that it can similarly help people with type 1 diabetes, but it has also been linked to diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA).

Researchers in Canada are currently trying to make sense of this link and see if lower doses of Jardiance may be safer and still effective for people with difficult-to-manage type 1 diabetes. In a small, two-week trial, taking either a quarter or a half of the lowest available Jardiance dose helped participants reach 70% time in range.

Now, researchers are wrapping up a six-month trial where participants wore a ketone monitor in addition to a glucose monitor. Preliminary study results show that it wasn’t uncommon for participants to experience short periods of high ketone levels that did not cause symptoms. Based on this, the researchers are taking an initial stab at developing guidelines for what might be considered an acceptable change in ketone levels for people with type 1 diabetes taking Jardiance.

💡 Why it matters: Many people with type 1 diabetes have trouble managing their blood sugar with insulin alone. While some of the treatments that work for type 2 diabetes could help, the two diseases are different – it’s essential that safety standards account for these differences.

 

• Beliefs Around Lows May Increase Risk For People With Type 2 Diabetes

Hypoglycemia (low blood sugar) can affect anyone who takes insulin, but historically, there hasn’t been as much information about lows in people with type 2 diabetes.

At ATTD, results were presented from a recently published study on risk factors for hypoglycemia among people who use continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) and insulin to manage type 2 diabetes. Even using a CGM, this group had a higher risk for serious low blood sugar events. Beliefs around hypoglycemia, such as prioritizing avoiding high blood sugar or normalizing lows that didn’t cause any symptoms, were found to contribute to an increased risk.

💡 Why it matters: CGM helps people with type 2 diabetes manage their blood sugar, but they do not eliminate the risk of lows for those who take insulin. This research indicates that psychological factors and beliefs around hypoglycemia may impact the risk of serious low blood sugar. It’s important to treat hypoglycemia as a serious concern and talk to your healthcare providers and support networks about strategies for avoiding it.

 

• The Dangers of Artificial Intelligence for Diabetes Management 

Artificial intelligence (AI) has transformed the speed and ease with which people can access health information. Advanced AI systems like ChatGPT may seem particularly helpful for things like carb counting and analyzing CGM and insulin pump data, but that doesn’t always mean it’s reliable – and could even be dangerous.

A breakdown of the research around the accuracy of AI systems for carb counting and insulin dosing presented at ATTD showed potentially dangerous inconsistencies. One study found that for carb counting, 95% of the time AI can correctly identify pictures of simple food items, but when it comes to more complex meals (for example, lasagna), AI models like ChatGPT were correct only 43% of the time.

Another small study comparing the accuracy of carb counting between AI models and human dietitians found that dietitians were by far the safest option. Here is the error rate for dangerous overestimations of carbs (by 20 grams or more) that directly led to severe hypoglycemia:

Dietitians, 3%
ChatGPT, 13%
Claude, 17%
Gemini, 38%
Overestimating carbs can be dangerous, as it leads to insulin dosing errors and increases the risk of hypoglycemia. Experts advised that people with type 1 using AI to aid with diabetes management talk to a healthcare provider before making any adjustments to their treatment plan.

💡 Why it matters: AI is getting smarter every day with newer, more complex models, but experts argue it’s still not a replacement for the expert human judgment needed for aspects of diabetes management like safely counting carbs and setting insulin pump parameters. AI might sound smart and appear to make recommendations that make sense, but it often misses or misinterprets data, which could lead to insulin dosing errors. There’s no arguing that AI can drastically reduce the cognitive burden of type 1 management, but experts agree that right now, it’s not 100% ready for prime time, and getting a second (human) opinion is critical.

 

• Trial Shows Ozempic Can Help People with Type 1 Diabetes??

Ozempic (semaglutide) and other GLP-1 medications are an effective treatment option for managing blood sugar and body weight. These drugs have been officially approved for people with type 2 diabetes, but GLP-1s could offer benefits for many people with type 1 diabetes who also have obesity and related health issues.

Researchers at ATTD presented the results of a small, seven-month study assessing the effectiveness of semaglutide for people with type 1 diabetes and obesity. During the trial, 36% of participants taking semaglutide spent more than 70% of their time in range, less than 4% of their time below range, and lost more than 5% of their body weight compared to those not taking semaglutide.

Treatment with semaglutide was also associated with reductions in cholesterol and blood pressure. Based on all of these changes, the researchers calculated that the participants who received semaglutide had significantly reduced their risk of heart disease over the next 10 years.

💡 Why it matters: Longer studies are necessary to confirm that people with type 1 diabetes get the same long-term heart and kidney health benefits from GLP-1s as people with type 2 diabetes, but this trial offers evidence that medications like Ozempic can help people with type 1 diabetes safely and effectively manage their body weight and blood sugar.

 

 

From www.diatribe.org

 

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