In short
Diabetes is one of the most common metabolic diseases in children worldwide. Without a continuous treatment and monitoring, diabetes mellitus can lead to severe microvascular and macrovascular complication. In Belgium, about 15 centres are recognized by the INAMI-RIZIV for the treatment of diabetes in youth (list only available in Dutch or French). Through regular data collections, the IQECAD project monitors quality of care in these centres and provides individualised feedback , helping the centres to improve their quality of care.
Project description
Diabetes is a burden for both patients and their parents who need to receive a specific education to properly manage the disease. Beside vascular complications, diabetes in youth is also linked with higher risk of diabetic ketoacidosis, severe episodes of hypoglycemia and comorbidity. Therefore management of diabetes in young patients should cover periodic assessment, attentive monitoring for glycemic control and screening of vascular complication and comorbidity.
Since 2008, multidisciplinary pediatric diabetes centres can apply for recognition (information only available in Dutch or French) from the INAMI-RIZIV. For continued recognition, centres need to participate in IQECAD. The project is executed by Sciensano and governed by a group of national experts.
Study design
IQECAD uses the so-called audit-feedback method to monitor quality of care and support healthcare providers in improving quality of care.
Periodically, recognized centres are invited to participate in the IQECAD audit. Centres are required to retrospectively provide data on the characteristics, treatment and outcomes of all type 1 diabetic patients aged less than 19 years old who have given informed consent.
Audits are performed using the Healthdata.be platform, where the current inclusion criteria and questionnaire items can be consulted.
Results
After each audit, centres receive individualized feedback, allowing them to see where improvement may be needed. In IQECAD, the quality indicators are based on the recommendations of the American Diabetes Association (ADA) and the International Society for Pediatric and Adolescent Diabetes (ISPAD).
Each cycle is closed with the publication of a global report on the findings of that cycle and the evolutions across cycles.
Legal information
The Privacy Commission has authorized the transmission and use of these data (authorisation only available in Dutch or French). Individuals treated in these centres are informed (letter of information only available in 
Dutch or French) about the data collection through their physician and are invited to give their informed consent if they want to participate (informed consent only available in Dutch or French).
