Eight updates for American Diabetes Month

November is American Diabetes Month, and according to the American Diabetes Association, someone in the U.S. is diagnosed with diabetes every 21 seconds.

Diabetes affects one in 11 Americans, and people with diabetes are at higher risk for blindness, amputation, kidney failure and CVD, and have health care costs that are more than two times higher than those without diabetes, according to the ADA.

“People living with diabetes face enormous challenges each day to manage their diabetes and they must do so while living their normal lives,” William T. Cefalu, MD, the ADA’s chief scientific, medical and mission officer, said in a press release.

To help primary care physicians better understand the current state of diabetes and mark American Diabetes Month, Healio Family Medicine has compiled some of the latest research on diabetes.

Lifestyle changes effective, longer-lasting in reducing diabetes risk compared to medications

Interventions that included healthy lifestyle modifications yielded the same degree of diabetes risk reduction as medications among at risk individuals, according to findings published in JAMA Internal Medicine. Read more.

FDA approves once-weekly exenatide extended-release injection

The FDA recently approved AstraZeneca’s GLP-1 receptor agonist exenatide extended-release injection in a once-weekly single-dose autoinjector device for the treatment of adults with type 2 diabetes, according to a press release from AstraZeneca. Read more.

ADA: Lifestyle management critical to treating patients with diabetes

In this year’s Standards of Medical Care, the American Diabetes Association emphasizes that lifestyle management is the key to treating patients with diabetes, according to a review article published in Osteopathic Family Physician. Read more.

Insulin pump therapy improves outcomes vs. insulin injections

Insulin pump therapy, when compared with insulin injections, was associated with a lower risk for diabetic ketoacidosis and severe hypoglycemia in patients with type 1 diabetes who were younger than 20 years, according to research published in JAMA. Read more.

Short-term continuous glucose monitor use may reduce type 2 diabetes treatment costs

Adults with type 2 diabetes using a professional continuous glucose monitor experienced a reduction in HbA1c as well as lower diabetes treatment costs after 1 year compared with those who did not use the monitoring, study data show. Read more.

Antidepressant use may increase risk for diabetes in youth

Use of selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors or serotonin-norepinephrine reuptake inhibitors was associated with an increased risk for type 2 diabetes among Medicaid-insured youth. Read more.

Late menopause may increase type 2 diabetes risk

Chinese women completing natural menopause at age 53 years or later have a 21% increased risk for type 2 diabetes vs. women completing menopause from age 45 to 52 years, according to findings from a cross-sectional study. Read more.

Antioxidant-rich foods may reduce type 2 diabetes risk in women

Middle-aged women who consume more antioxidant-rich foods are less likely to develop type 2 diabetes after 15 years vs. women who consumer lower amounts of such foods, according to findings from a prospective study conducted in France. Read more.