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ADA, AHA team up with industry to raise awareness of CVD, diabetes link
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The American Diabetes Association and the American Heart Association have initiated a multiyear collaborative effort to help patients with type 2 diabetes reduce their risks for disability and mortality due to cardiovascular events, according to a press release from the two organizations.
The effort is supported by founding sponsors Boehringer Ingelheim, Eli Lilly and Co. and Novo Nordisk, with additional support from Sanofi.
ADA, AHA and the industry partners are excited to take on this important challenge, according to William T. Cefalu, MD, chief scientific and medical officer for the ADA.
“The lengthy, detailed and thorough process undertaken by all of the partners to initiate this multiyear campaign is heartening,” Cefalu told Endocrine Today. “It is a realization about what we can accomplish when we work collaboratively and leverage resources.
“We know diabetes and cardiovascular disease are inextricably linked,” Cefalu said. “This historic collaboration reflects a strong collective commitment to improving the daily lives and outcomes for the millions of people living with diabetes and their families.”
CVD is the leading cause of death and disability in adults with type 2 diabetes, and this population has two to four times the risk for CVD vs. people without diabetes. CVD shortens life expectancy by an average of 12 years for adults at age 60 years who have both conditions.
“We’re trying to get people aligned with the idea that in many ways, diabetes is cardiovascular disease,” Robert H. Eckel, MD, AHA past president, told Endocrine Today.
“That doesn’t mean everyone with diabetes is going to die of a heart attack or stroke. But, really, surveillance of cardiovascular disease risk in patients with diabetes is so critically important, and for cardiologists now, there are diabetes medications that appear to reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease.”
Many patients with type 2 diabetes continue to have elevated CV risk even when blood glucose levels are controlled, Eckel said.
The new campaign will focus on consumer awareness, patient education, provider training and quality improvement measures for clinics, practices and hospitals that treat patients with type 2 diabetes.
As the most expensive chronic health condition in the U.S., diabetes was responsible for $327 billion in overall annual costs in 2017, according to the release. The longer people live with type 2 diabetes, the higher their risk for developing CVD and other comorbid conditions.
Eckel discussed the need for greater understanding about the interconnectedness of these conditions.
“We need more knowledge out there,” he said. “We need to understand that a cardiologist can partly be a diabetologist or vice versa. A doctor taking care of patients with diabetes needs to be up front about the relationship to cardiovascular disease.”
More information about the initiative will become available in the coming months at heart.org/aboutdiabetes. – by Jennifer Byrne
For more information:
William T. Cefalu, MD, can be reached at 1450 Poydras St., New Orleans, LA 70112; email: press@diabetes.org.
Robert Eckel, MD, can be reached at Research Complex 1 South, 12801 E. 17th Ave., Room 7107 8106, Aurora, CO 79945; email: maggie.francis@heart.org.
Disclosures: Cefalu and Eckel report no relevant financial disclosures.