The PRIME consortium has created an online e-learning course for healthcare professionals interested in the connection between insulinopathies and brain health and how to provide integrated care. The course aims to enhance the understanding and management of the co-occurrence of insulinopathies, such as type 2 diabetes (T2D) and obesity, with mental and neurological brain disorders. PRIME is a European consortium of research institutes, medical centres, companies, and societal stakeholders that is funded through an EU Horizon 2020 grant. PRIME is unravelling the insulin-dependent mechanisms that underly conditions such as type 2 diabetes and obesity, and brain disorders such as Alzheimer’s disease, obsessive-compulsive disorder and autism spectrum disorders. Until now, very little attention has been paid to the role of insulin signaling in brain disorders, and the overlap (or ‘multimorbidity’) with somatic conditions. PRIME’s e-learning course has been created in collaboration with the European College of Neuropsychopharmacology (ECNP), and with support from the CANDY and TIMESPAN consortia.
The primary audience includes psychiatrists, psychologists, neurologists, neuroscientists, endocrinologists, dieticians, general practitioners and all other interested individuals. By completing this course, participants will be able to recognise the frequent co-occurrence of insulinopathies and brain disorders, and understand how lifestyle, glycaemic control, and insulin signalling influences brain functioning and health. Participants will also learn to argue the importance of multidisciplinary treatment and integrated care for insulinopathies and brain disorders. Additionally, they will be able to adopt lifestyle interventions in clinical practice to improve both mental and physical health of their patients, apply clinical guideline recommendations to diagnose and treat individuals with insulin and/or somatic multimorbidities. The course is available free of charge on the ECNP knowledge hub and offers on-demand, online learning materials, including video lectures, quizzes, and reading material. Participants can obtain 43 European CME credits upon completing the course.
