Diabetes News

During Ramadan, observant Muslims fast and forgo medications from sunrise to sunset for 1 month. Islamic law allows those with health conditions such as diabetes to avoid fasting, but data indicate not all of such Muslim patients accept the dispensation, according to research published in Annals of Family Medicine.

After addressing disparities regarding which patient populations are most likely to develop chronic kidney disease, a speaker at the virtual National Kidney Foundation Spring Clinical Meetings touched on a strategy to mitigate such disparities, an effort she deemed “a great success.”

“Diabetes does not increase the risk of new coronavirus infection, but it can worsen the outcome of COVID-19,” Gian P. Fadini, MD, PhD, associate professor of endocrinology at the University of Padova, Italy, told Healio. “People with diabetes can be reassured they are not at higher risk for becoming infected, but they have to pay additional attention to symptoms and signs of disease progression.”

SCOTTSDALE, Arizona — There is an important unmet need for multidisciplinary care models to utilize the novel antihyperglycemic agents to lower cardiorenal outcomes in patients, according to an expert at the Cardio Renal Metabolic Conference.

“We have proven, for the first time in a prospective study, that the urinary proteomic-based analysis CKD273 works as a predictor for future risk for progression in kidney disease, both for increase in albuminuria as well as for loss of renal function,” Peter Rossing, MD, head of diabetes complications research at the Steno Diabetes Center in Gentofte, Denmark, told Healio. “Secondly, we tried to see if we could mitigate this risk with spironolactone. That was not possible to show, maybe because the study was smaller than initially planned or maybe because it just does not work. However, as we begin to see renal benefits in studies with SGLT2 inhibitors and GLP-1 receptor agonists, it would be obvious to test some of these compounds in future studies, and we are trying to set that up.”

For patients with diabetic kidney disease, using an artificial intelligence-enabled diagnostic test to predict rapid kidney function decline and kidney failure could result in substantial savings to the U.S. health care system, a speaker told the audience at the virtual National Kidney Foundation Spring Clinical Meetings.

The phase 3 DAPA-CKD trial assessing the benefit of the SGLT2 inhibitor dapagliflozin in adults with chronic kidney disease will be stopped early after investigators reported an “overwhelming benefit” for reduction in worsening renal function or renal death compared with placebo, according to a press release from AstraZeneca.

A long-term follow-up of Australian adults with diabetes suggests the age-adjusted incidence rate of chronic kidney disease was six new cases per 100 person-years during a span of 11 years, with comorbidities such as cardiovascular disease, cancer, obesity and depression all driving the higher risk for renal function decline, according to findings published in Diabetes Care.

The FDA on Tuesday approved safety labeling changes for all SGLT2 inhibitors, recommending temporary discontinuation of the medications before any scheduled surgery to avoid potential risk for diabetic ketoacidosis, according to an agency press release.

Patient activation interventions — meant to increase a patient’s knowledge, skills and confidence to manage their health — had a significant and positive effect on glycemic levels and self-management behaviors among patients with type 2 diabetes, researchers reported.