The European Diabetes Epidemiology Conference (of the European Association for the Study of Diabetes) will be held at the Village Hotel, Swansea, from Saturday, May 12 until Monday, May 14.

There will be presentations covering international research such as Type 1 diabetes from Pittsburgh, USA and from Italy, and covering UK research such as Type 2 diabetes from Cambridge.

Topics covered include; pregnancy and diabetes, genes and lifestyle in causing diabetes, diabetes prediction and preventing the long term complications of diabetes.

Also being launched at the conference is the ‘Children’s Report’ – a summary of findings of a children’s health survey in South Wales, written by the children themselves. 

The report’s findings include: school children are more active if their parents played with them as infants, four in 10 children are unfit, and attitudes to teenagers are the main barrier to physical activity (no one wants groups of teenagers playing football or skateboarding).

The recommendations of the teenagers have led to a British Medical Association (BMA) funded grant to give children the buying power to develop physical activities in the local area. 

The first children to try out the Active Vouchers will attend the conference on Saturday, May 12, to discuss their findings and recommendations to improve activity.

Swansea University’s College of Medicine has also awarded a bursary to Brittni Frederiksen from the USA for a study into “Infant exposures and development of type 1 diabetes”, which shows how early weaning is an important factor in the development of Type 1 diabetes in children.

For further information about the conference contact Dr Sinead Brophy, Tel: 01792 602058, email: s.brophy@swansea.ac.uk, or visit http://edeg.intelliopen.hu/EDEG-2012/8/.

This College of Medicine news item has been posted by Bethan Evans, Swansea University Public Relations Office, Tel: 01792 295049, or email: b.w.evans@swansea.ac.uk.