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.

**NB: Dotted lines represent projects with pilot funding only and/or not yet funded

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:
  • Professor Louise Maple-Brown – Head, Diabetes across the Lifecourse 
  • Norlisha Bartlett – executive assistant to Prof Louise Maple-Brown
  • Associate Professor Jaquelyne Hughes - principal research fellow
  • Dr Elizabeth Barr – senior research fellow, Diabetes Epidemiology Group Head
  • Dr Renae Kirkham – senior research fellow, Youth Diabetes Group Head
  • Sian Graham – Indigenous Reference Group coordinator
  • Tara Dias – project officer, Clinical Register NT
  • Kirby Murtha – FNQ DIP coordinator
 
  1. Maple-Brown, L.J., Graham, S., McKee, J., & Wickow, B. (2020). Walking the path together: incorporating Indigenous knowledge in diabetes research. The Lancet  Diabetes & Endocrinology, 8(7), 559-560.
  2. Maple-Brown, L.J., & Hampton, D. (2020). Indigenous cultures with similar colonisation history share the challenge of intergenerational diabetes. Lancet Global Health (Invited Commentary), 8(5), e619-e620. doi:10.1016/S2214-109X(20)20072-3.
  3. Lee, I., Barr, E.L.M., Longmore, D., Barzi, F., Brown, A., Connors, C., Boyle, J., Kirkwood, M., Hampton, V., Lynch, M., Lu, Z.X., O’Dea, K., Oats, J., McIntyre, H.D., Zimmet, P., Shaw, J.E., & Maple-Brown, L. (2020). Cord blood metabolic markers are strong mediators of the effect of maternal adiposity on fetal growth in pregnancies across the glucose tolerance spectrum: the PANDORA study, Diabetologia, 63 (3), 497-507. doi: 10.1007/s00125-019-05079-2.
  4. Cheng, E., Longmore, D., Barzi, F., Barr, E., Lee, I., Whitbread, C., Boyle, J., Oats, J., Connors, C., McIntyre, H.D., Kirkwood, M., Dempsey, K., Zhang, X., Thomas, S., Williams, D., Zimmet, P., Brown, A.D.H., Shaw, J.E., & Maple-Brown, L. (2019). Birth Outcomes in women with gestational diabetes managed by lifestyle modification alone: The PANDORA study. Diabetes Research and Clinical Practice,157,107876. doi:10.1016/j.diabres.2019.107876
  5. McLean, A., Kirkham, R., Campbell, S., Whitbread, C., Barrett, J., Connors, C., Boyle, J.A., Brown, A., Mein, J., Wenitong, M., McIntyre, H.D. Barzi, F., Oats., Sinha, A., & Maple-Brown, L. (2019). Improving models of care for diabetes in pregnancy: Experience of current practice in Far North Queensland, Australia Frontiers in Public Health, 7,192. doi:10.3389/fpubh.2019.00192.
  6. Maple-Brown, L., Lee, I., Longmore, D., Barzi, F., Connors, C., Boyle, J.A., Moore, E., Whitbread, C., Kirkwood, M., Graham, S., Hampton, V., Simmonds, A., Van Dokkum, P., Kelaart, J., Thomas, S., Chitturi, S., Eades, S., Corpus, S., Lynch, M., Lu, Z.X., O'Dea, K., Zimmet, P., Oats, J., McIntyre, H.D., Brown, A.D.H., & Shaw, J.E. (2019). Pregnancy and Neonatal Diabetes Outcomes in Remote Australia: The PANDORA Study, an observational birth cohort. International Journal of Epidemiology, 48(1),307-318.
  7. Maple-Brown, L., Lindenmayer, G., Barzi, F., Whitbread, C., Connors, C., Moore, E., Boyle, J., Kirkwood, M., Lee, I.L., Longmore, D., Van Dokkum, P., Wicks, M., Dowden, M., Inglis, C., Cotter, M., Kirkham, R., Corpus, S., Chitturi, S., Thomas, S., O’Dea, K., Zimmet, P., Oats, J., McIntyre, H.D., Brown, A., & Shaw, J.E. (2019). A real-world experience of metformin use in pregnancy: observational data from the Northern Territory Diabetes in Pregnancy Clinical Register. Journal of Diabetes,11(9), 761-770. doi: 10.1111/1753-0407.12905. 
  8. Titmuss, A., Davis, E., Brown, A., & Maple-Brown, L. (2019). Emerging diabetes and metabolic conditions among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander young people in Australia. Medical Journal of Australia, 210(3),111-113.
  9.  Longmore, D., Barr, E., Lee, I., Barzi, F., Kirkwood, M., Whitbread, C., Hampton, V., Graham, S., Van Dokkum, P., Connors, C., Boyle, J.,  Catalano, P., Brown, A., O'Dea, K., Oats, J., McIntyre, D., Shaw, J., & Maple‐Brown, L. (2019). Maternal body mass index, excess gestational weight gain, and diabetes are positively associated with neonatal adiposity in the Pregnancy and Neonatal Diabetes Outcomes in Remote Australia (PANDORA) study. Paediatric Obesity, 14, e12490. doi: 10.1111/ijpo.12490. 
  10. Lee, I., Purbrick, B., Barzi, F., Brown, A., Connors, C., Whitbread, C., Moore, E., Kirkwood ,M., Simmonds, A,, Van Dokkum, P., Death, E., Svenson, S., Graham, S., Hampton, V., Kelaart, J., Longmore, D., Titmuss, A., Boyle, J., Brimblecombe, J., Saffery, R., d'Aprano, A., Skilton, M.R., Ward, L.C., Corpus, S., Chitturi, S., Thomas, S., Eades, S., Inglis, C., Dempsey, K., Dowden. M., Lynch, M., Oats, J., McIntyre, D., Zimmet, P., O'Dea, K., Shaw, J., & Maple-Brown, L. (2018). Cohort Profile: The Pregnancy and Neonatal Outcomes in Remote Australia (PANDORA) Study. International Journal of Epidemiology, 47(4),1045-1046h.
  11. Kirkham, R., Boyle, J., Whitbread, C., Dowden, M., Connors, C., Corpus, S., McCarthy, L., Oats, J., McIntyre, H.D., Moore, E., O’Dea, K., Brown, A., & Maple-Brown, L. (2017). Health services changes to address diabetes in pregnancy in a complex setting: perspectives of health professionals. BMC Health Services, 17(1), 524.
  12. Kirkham, R., Whitbread, C., Connors, C., Moore, E., Boyle, J., Richa, R., Barzi, F., Oats, J., Inglis, C., Cotter, M., McIntyre, H.D., Dent, G., Van Dokkum, P., Zimmet, P., Shaw, J., O’Dea, K., Brown, A., & Maple-Brown, L. (2017). Implementation of a Diabetes in Pregnancy Clinical Register in a complex setting: findings from a process evaluation. PLoS One, 12(8), e0179487.
Click here to view more diabetes publications in PubMed.

  1. PODCAST | The Lancet Diabetes & Endocrinology

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    In conversation with....Angela Titmuss on T2D in First Nations young people in northern Australia.

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  3. Aboriginal women with gestational diabetes at increased risk of developing type 2 form, new research shows

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    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.

  4. Media Release | Gestational diabetes an important indicator of developing type 2 diabetes for Aboriginal women

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    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.

  5. The Australian | Spotlight on Indigenous diabetes crisis

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  10. Diabetes in poverty-stricken pregnant women in the NT, highest in the world

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    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.

  11. NT News | Diabetes concern for mums-to-be

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    A new study shows diabetes in pregnant women has grown substantially in the Territory.

  12. Media release | The Hon Greg Hunt MP

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  13. Media release | Rates of diabetes in pregnancy continue to rise in the NT

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    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.

  14. $5.6m on health research

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  15. NT News | Funds for critical health issue studies

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    Report on Menzies NHMRC and MRFF Investigator grants.

  16. Five medical research projects recognised in the Northern Territory

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  17. $400 million funding boost for health and medical research

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  18. Q&A with Menzies endocrinologist, Professor Louise Maple-Brown

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  19. Tongans use social media to fight lifestyle diseases

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    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.

  20. In remote communities, where more health workers are needed, chronic disease is rising

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    The community's battle is an example of what Menzies diabetes researcher Louise Maple-Brown says is a growing problem in the Northern Territory.

  21. Mix 104.9 | Diabetes Symposium in Darwin

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  22. NT News | Diabetes given centre stage

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    Menzies School of Health Research will host diabetes experts and health professional from across Northern Australia.

  23. Media Alert | Health experts in Darwin to discuss diabetes in pregnancy

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    Menzies - Diabetes across the Lifecourse: Northern Australia Partnership – Annual Educational Symposium on Friday, 27 September.

  24. Sport a boost to Menzies Indigenous health research

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    Charles Darwin University E-news | Issue 2 Monday, 01 April 2019

  25. $6.57 MILLION TO KICK GOALS FOR YOUTH AND DIABETES HEALTH

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  26. COAG Health Council | Communiqué 8 March 2019

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    Among indigenous and nonindigenous women in Australia, the use of metformin in treating hyperglycemic conditions during pregnancy, does not lead to serious adverse events.

  28. Medical Republic | Alarming rates of T2 diabetes in our young indigenous

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  29. NACCHO Aboriginal Health | #Obesity #Diabetes News

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    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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  32. Diabetes researcher wins 2017 Harry Christian Giese—Research into Action Award

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  33. Diabetes researcher reminds mums with diabetes to focus on their health

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    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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  35. New research may help break the cycle of intergenerational diabetes

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  38. NHMRC fellowship snapshot: Associate Professor Louise Maple-Brown

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