Menzies research has shown very high rates of diabetes among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians. Of particular concern is that this epidemic is intergenerational.
Our research in the Northern Territory (NT) is showing that there are increasing numbers of women with diabetes in pregnancy. Children exposed to diabetes in-utero are more likely have a number of health risks (including developing type 2 diabetes early in life) when compared to children not exposed to diabetes in-utero. Our research results are similar to other research findings in countries with similar histories of colonisation of Indigenous peoples.
We are now seeing young children being diagnosed with type 2 diabetes. Our work aims to address this intergenerational cycle in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, with a focus on early-life prevention: pre-conception, pregnancy and childhood.
The DIABETES across the LIFECOURSE: Northern Australia Partnership commenced initially in the Northern Territory (NT) in 2011. The partnership is between researchers, policy makers and health service providers. It aims to improve systems of care and services for people with diabetes in remote northern Australia. The Partnership includes work to improve the care and outcomes for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander youth with diabetes and women with diabetes in pregnancy and their babies.
After starting in 2011 as the NT DIP Partnership, further funding in 2015 enabled development of an alliance with Far North Queensland (NT & FNQ Diabetes in Pregnancy Partnership) and collaborating with Canadian researchers.
Early 2019 saw the change of the Partnership name to DIABETES across the LIFECOURSE: Northern Australia Partnership. This was to encompass the movement of the program from mothers in pregnancy, to including a focus on: children born to mothers with diabetes in pregnancy, diabetes prevention in children, and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander youth with type 2 diabetes.
Diabetes in pregnancy (DIP) is associated with an increase in short-term and long-term health risks for mothers and their babies. It also provides a unique opportunity to improve the future health outcomes of women and their babies.
Our research impact:
- Has supported the response to intergenerational diabetes by building the responsiveness and health system capacity and further defining research priorities;
- Improved identification of diabetes in pregnancy among women at high risk of diabetes in pregnancy (80% increase in the NT); enhancing early screening practices (20% increase in earlier diabetes in pregnancy diagnosis) and improving data about diabetes in pregnancy, including maternal/baby’s outcomes (through implementation of the NT and FNQ Diabetes in Pregnancy Clinical Registers and Models of Care activities)
- Directly influenced national and state/territory policy including: the Australasian Diabetes in Pregnancy Society’s audit policies, the National Diabetes Strategy and the priorities of the Northern Territory Diabetes Network
- Been translated into clinical guidelines ensuring that clinicians are cognisant of factors relating to intergenerational diabetes (including the first CARPA guidelines relating to type 2 diabetes in children) and the remote context.
Key staff:
- Associate Professor Renae Kirkham - Principal Research Fellow and Lead of the Diabetes across the Lifecourse: Northern Australia Partnership
- Professor Louise Maple-Brown - Menzies Deputy Director of Research and Principal Chief Investigator
- Sian Graham - Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Advisory Group Chair
- Anthony Gunther - Program Manager
- eGFR study: accurate assessment of renal function and progression of chronic kidney disease in Indigenous Australians
- PANDORA
- A life course approach to reduce intergenerational diabetes in remote northern Australia through improved systems of care and consumer engagement
- NT & FNQ Diabetes in Pregnancy Partnership – Clinical Register & Models of Care
- Improving pre-conception health
- Youth Diabetes
- Diabetes Prevention
- Intergenerational Health in the Northern Territory (I-HiNT)
- The DRUID study: diabetes and related disorders in urban Indigenous people in the Darwin region
- Live Strong, COVID-Safe and frailty free after starting dialysis
- Cardiovascular Risk in Indigenous People (CRISP) study
- Dias T, MacKay D, Canuto K, Boyle JA, D’Antoine H, Hampton D, Martin K, Phillips J, Bartlett N, Mcintyre HD, Graham S, Corpus S, Connors C, McCarthy L, Kirkham R and Maple-Brown LJ (2024) Supporting healthy lifestyles for First Nations women and communities through co-design: lessons and early findings from remote Northern Australia. Front. Clin. Diabetes Healthc. 5:1356060. doi: 10.3389/fcdhc.2024.1356060. Supporting healthy lifestyles for First Nations women and communities through co-design: lessons and early findings from remote Northern Australia
- Kirkham R, Puszka S, Titmuss A, Freeman N, Weaver E, Morris J, Mack S, O’Donnell V, Boffa J, Dowler J, Ellis E, Corpus S, Graham S, Scott L, Sinha AK, Connors C, Shaw JE, Azzopardi P, Brown A, Davis E, Wicklow B, Maple-Brown L. Codesigning enhanced models of care for Northern Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander youth with type 2 diabetes: study protocol. BMJ Open. 2024 Mar 7;14(3):e080328. doi: 10.1136/bmjopen-2023-080328. Codesigning enhanced models of care for Northern Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander youth with type 2 diabetes: study protocol – BMJ Open
- Correa-Rotter, R., Maple-Brown, L.J., Sahay, R. et al. New and emerging therapies for diabetic kidney disease. Nat Rev Nephrol 20, 156–160 (2024). doi.org/10.1038/s41581-023-00782-1. New and emerging therapies for diabetic kidney disease
- Graham S, Wood A. Working in Partnership with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people to change the diabetes story. Australian Diabetes Educator. 2023 Dec. Volume 26:4. Working in Partnership with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people to change the diabetes story
- McLean A, Barr E, Tabuai G, Murphy HR, Maple-Brown L. Continuous Glucose Monitoring Metrics in High-Risk Pregnant Women with Type 2 Diabetes. Diabetes Technol Ther. 2023 Oct 30. doi: 10.1089/dia.2023.0300. Epub ahead of print. Continuous Glucose Monitoring Metrics in High-Risk Pregnant Women with Type 2 Diabetes – Diabetes Technology & Therapeutics
- Walker AF, Graham S, Maple-Brown L, Egede LE, Campbell JA, Walker RJ, Wade AN, Mbanya JC, Long JA, Yajnik C, Thomas N, Ebekozien O, Odugbesan O, DiMeglio LA, Agarwal S. Interventions to address global inequity in diabetes: international progress. Lancet. 2023 Jun 22:S0140-6736(23)00914-5. doi: 10.1016/S0140-6736(23)00914-5. Epub ahead of print. Interventions to address global inequity in diabetes: international progress – ScienceDirect
- Agarwal S, Wade AN, Mbanya JC, Yajnik C, Thomas N, Egede LE, Campbell JA, Walker RJ, Maple-Brown L, Graham S. The role of structural racism and geographical inequity in diabetes outcomes. Lancet. 2023 Jun 22:S0140-6736(23)00909-1. doi: 10.1016/S0140-6736(23)00909-1. Epub ahead of print. The role of structural racism and geographical inequity in diabetes outcomes – ScienceDirect
- Wicks M, Hampshire C, Campbell J, Maple-Brown L, Kirkham R. Racial microaggressions and interculturality in remote Central Australian Aboriginal healthcare. Int J Equity Health. 2023 May 25;22(1):103. doi: 10.1186/s12939-023-01897-4. Racial microaggressions and interculturality in remote Central Australian Aboriginal healthcare
- Hare MJL, Maple-Brown LJ, Shaw JE, Boyle JA, Lawton PD, Barr ELM, Guthridge S, Webster V, Hampton D, Singh G, Dyck RF, Barzi F. Risk of kidney disease following a pregnancy complicated by diabetes: a longitudinal, population-based data-linkage study among Aboriginal women in the Northern Territory, Australia. Diabetologia. 2023 May;66(5):837-846. doi: 10.1007/s00125-023-05868-w. Epub 2023 Jan 18. Risk of kidney disease following a pregnancy complicated by diabetes: a longitudinal, population-based data-linkage study among Aboriginal women in the Northern Territory, Australia – SpringerLink
- McLean A, Sinha A, Barr E, Maple-Brown L. Feasibility and Acceptability of Intermittently Scanned Continuous Glucose Monitoring for Women With Type 2 Diabetes in Pregnancy. J Diabetes Sci Technol. 2022 Sep 19:19322968221124956. doi: 10.1177/19322968221124956. Epub ahead of print. Feasibility and Acceptability of Intermittently Scanned Continuous Glucose Monitoring for Women With Type 2 Diabetes in Pregnancy – PubMed (nih.gov)
Click here to view more diabetes publications in PubMed.
1. Videos
2. Health Professional resources
3. Annual Educational Symposiums
4. Newsletters
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PODCAST | The Lancet Diabetes & Endocrinology
In conversation with....Angela Titmuss on T2D in First Nations young people in northern Australia.
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$20m Committed to Launch Leading National Research Centres for Diabetes and Cardiovascular Disease
Bringing together a team of internationally renowned Australian researchers and institutions, ASHRA is a partnership between Monash University, Victor Chang Cardiac Research Institute, The George Institute for Global Health (Australia), University of Sydney, University of New South Wales, Menzies School of Health Research, University of Melbourne and Australian National University.
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Aboriginal women with gestational diabetes at increased risk of developing type 2 form, new research shows
New research, led by Darwin's Menzies School of Health Research, shows that Aboriginal women who had gestational diabetes during pregnancy, will have a one-in-four chance of developing type 2 diabetes within two and a half years after giving birth.
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Media Release | Gestational diabetes an important indicator of developing type 2 diabetes for Aboriginal women
A new study has found that Aboriginal women with gestational diabetes (GDM) are at an increased risk of developing type 2 diabetes within a short timeframe after pregnancy than non-Indigenous women.
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The Australian | Spotlight on Indigenous diabetes crisis
A new study has found Indigenous children in Northern Australia suffer youth-onset type two diabetes at rates at least 10 times higher than previously thought, and possibly above those anywhere else in the world.
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ABC Darwin | New research shows northern Australia leads the world for type 2 diabetes in young people
She's still learning the rules on-court, but off-court six-year-old Kudin Brogan has already mastered complex systems governing her health and fitness.
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Youth-onset type 2 diabetes in the NT exceed international figures
The study uncovered what is arguably the highest reported prevalence in any population of youth internationally within the past 25 years and ten times higher than previously reported in Australia.
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ABC Online | Amputee Crystal Love Johnson set for stage comeback after long battle with diabetes
Transgender celebrity Crystal Love Johnson says she is ready to return to the stage after a long battle with diabetes that has included having one of her legs amputated below the knee.
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Making diabetes care more culturally safe
Menzies School of Health Research has done research that shows our rates of Type 2 Diabetes and Gestation Diabetes are the highest in the world.
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Diabetes in poverty-stricken pregnant women in the NT, highest in the world
Researcher and lead author Dr Matthew Hare said, for these women, poverty stricken and living in some of the most isolated regions of Australia, fresh and healthy food is often not for sale where they live or it is unaffordable.
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NT News | Diabetes concern for mums-to-be
A new study shows diabetes in pregnant women has grown substantially in the Territory.
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Media release | The Hon Greg Hunt MP
$27 million to boost research in preventive and public health. A media release about an Australian Government investment in vital research to help promote better health and prevent people from getting ill.
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Media release | Rates of diabetes in pregnancy continue to rise in the NT
The burden of diabetes in pregnancy has grown substantially in the Northern Territory (NT) over three decades and is contributing to more babies being born at higher than expected birthweights according to a new study.
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Five medical research projects recognised in the Northern Territory
Five researchers based at Menzies have received recognition in the form of Investigator Grants from the NHMRC and the MRFF.
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$400 million funding boost for health and medical research
Including Menzies School of Health Research work towards the elimination of chronic hepatitis B in the Northern Territory.
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Q&A with Menzies endocrinologist, Professor Louise Maple-Brown
Prof Louise Maple-Brown discusses new diabetes guidelines during COVID-19.
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Tongans use social media to fight lifestyle diseases
The training comes as new research from the Menzies School of Health looking at Australia's indigenous community has shown that using Facebook to deliver health messages can be effective.
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In remote communities, where more health workers are needed, chronic disease is rising
The community's battle is an example of what Menzies diabetes researcher Louise Maple-Brown says is a growing problem in the Northern Territory.
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Mix 104.9 | Diabetes Symposium in Darwin
This is the seventh annual gathering of diabetes researchers, health workers and stakeholders to discuss a ‘lifecourse approach’ to preventing and managing diabetes.
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NT News | Diabetes given centre stage
Menzies School of Health Research will host diabetes experts and health professional from across Northern Australia.
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Media Alert | Health experts in Darwin to discuss diabetes in pregnancy
Menzies - Diabetes across the Lifecourse: Northern Australia Partnership – Annual Educational Symposium on Friday, 27 September.
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Sport a boost to Menzies Indigenous health research
Charles Darwin University E-news | Issue 2 Monday, 01 April 2019
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$6.57 MILLION TO KICK GOALS FOR YOUTH AND DIABETES HEALTH
$6.57 million in extensive and exciting programs to tackle chronically high levels of Type 2 diabetes, and boost health and wellbeing through sport among Top End and Central Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander youth.
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COAG Health Council | Communiqué 8 March 2019
The Federal, state and territory Health Ministers met in Adelaide at the COAG Health Council to discuss a range of national health issues.
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Metformin appears safe in treating hyperglycemia during pregnancy
Among indigenous and nonindigenous women in Australia, the use of metformin in treating hyperglycemic conditions during pregnancy, does not lead to serious adverse events.
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Medical Republic | Alarming rates of T2 diabetes in our young indigenous
Ten years after the “Closing the Gap” targets were laid out, a health disaster is emerging.
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NACCHO Aboriginal Health | #Obesity #Diabetes News
Type 2 Diabetes is a particular concern as there is a global trend of increasing numbers of young people being diagnosed, there is limited data available in Australia but anecdotally numbers are rising rapidly amongst young Indigenous Australians.
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Intervention needed to reduce Type 2 Diabetes in young Indigenous Australians
Researchers are calling for immediate action to reduce the risk of obesity and diabetes in Indigenous children and young people.
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Diabetes project | Cairns Post
A PROJECT aimed at improving health outcomes, systems of care and services for women with diabetes in pregnancy, has made its way to the Far North.
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Diabetes researcher wins 2017 Harry Christian Giese—Research into Action Award
Harry Giese AM MBE (1913–2000) was a Territory community leader and administrator who played a key role in the establishment of the Menzies School of Health Research (Menzies) as the first faculty of the new Northern Territory University. During its...
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Diabetes researcher reminds mums with diabetes to focus on their health
In conjunction with World Diabetes Day on 14 November, Menzies School of Health Research principal research fellow Associate Professor Louise Maple-Brown reminded mothers and health professionals that women’s health is important, especially when complicated by diabetes.
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Cherie Whitbread 2017 Midwife of the Year
Cherie Whitbread received the award of 2017 Nurse/Midwife of the Year! Picture: Justin Kennedy NT News
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New research may help break the cycle of intergenerational diabetes
New research, at Menzies within the NT Diabetes in Pregnancy Partnership Project led by Associate Professor Louise Maple-Brown will be funded by Diabetes Australia. Researches will investigate the barriers to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander mothers accessing optimal healthcare during pregnancy and may help to address the intergenerational cycle of diabetes.
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Ronald's story to be told
It's been more than two decades since Maria Morgan gave her son Ronald the best gift she could, one of her own kidneys, which enabled him to live independently for 23 years.
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TerritoryQ: Dedicated Life, Assoc Prof Louise Maple-Brown
A/Prof Louise Maple-Brown is dedicating her life to a grim epidemic - diabetes among Indigenous people. She particularly focuses on diabetes in pregnant women.
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NHMRC fellowship snapshot: Associate Professor Louise Maple-Brown
Menzies’ Associate Professor Louise Maple-Brown was recently awarded a Practitioner Fellowship as part of the National Health and Medical Research Council’s latest multi-million dollar funding round.
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Specialists calls for greater focus on diabetes in pregnancy this National Diabetes Week
To mark National Diabetes Week 2014 (13-19 July), one of Australia’s leading diabetes specialists has called for greater awareness about the importance of early screening for high-risk women in order to diagnose type 2 diabetes in pregnancy.
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730NT: Fight against kidney disease scourge
For people from remote communities, the diagnosis of kidney failure often means moving far from home to have life-saving dialysis. Some communities are so concerned about the increasing number of people leaving for dialysis, that they've rallied to set up their own clinics.
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Body and build of Indigenous Australians in the spotlight
The first ever detailed study of the body build and composition of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people has been undertaken to help reduce the risk and impact of kidney disease in Indigenous populations.
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Indigenous kidney specialist named NT's Young Tall Poppy
Australia’s first Indigenous kidney specialist has been announced as the Northern Territory’s Young Tall Poppy as part of the recent 2012 NT Research and Innovation Awards.
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730NT: New Director of the Menzies School of Health Research
Kidney disease expert Professor Alan Cass takes over the reins at Menzies.
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Research endorses national standard for assessment of kidney function in Indigenous Australians
A new Menzies School of Health Research (Menzies) study has backed the nation’s standard kidney function test for Indigenous Australians, deeming it accurate and valid.