Anti-zinc transporter protein 8 autoantibodies significantly improve the diagnostic approach to type 1 diabetes: an Italian multicentre study on paediatric patients.

Background And Aim: Anti-ZnT8 antibodies (ZnT8A) were recently proposed as a new independent serological marker in Type 1 diabetes (T1D), leading to a significant improvement of the positive predictive value of autoantibody measurement in this setting. The aim of this retrospective multicentre study was to investigate ZnT8A as a complement to the current T1D autoantibody assays in a large cohort of paediatric Italian patients.

Methods: ZnT8A were assessed by ELISA in 213 T1DM paediatric patients referred to six different centres in North-East Italy.

A comparison study of the prevalence of overweight and obese Italian preschool children using different reference standards.

Introduction: The number of overweight children is constantly increasing in both developed and underdeveloped countries. Most epidemiological surveys consider school age children with little attention being given to preschool age children. This study was undertaken to define the prevalence of being overweight or obese in a population of children 3-6 years of age, living in North-East Italy.