[Type 1 diabetes mellitus. Early detection and prevention].

Type 1 diabetes is the most common autoimmune disease in children and adolescents, with a rising incidence worldwide. Despite improvements in insulin therapy, in many cases complications cannot be avoided and mortality is increased. Therefore, the development of effective prevention strategies is an important medical but also economic goal. Exact prediction of the disease is necessary for prevention studies, and type 1 diabetes can be predicted very accurately with genetic and humoral markers. Primary prevention in genetically predisposed individuals is initiated before diabetes-associated autoantibodies occur. Secondary prevention aims to arrest the progression to type 1 diabetes in autoantibody-positive subjects. Some prevention studies show encouraging results.