Diabetes Awareness Month: 10 updates on its detection, risks, management

Diabetes reduces life expectancy in middle-aged adults by up to 10 years and independently increases the risk for death from cancer, CVD and renal disease as much as threefold, according to the Lancet Commission on diabetes.

“Prevention, early detection, prompt diagnosis and continuing care with regular monitoring and ongoing evaluation are key elements in reducing the growing burden of diabetes,” Juliana C.N. Chan, MB, ChB, MD, FRCP, the director of the Hong Kong Institute of Diabetes and Obesity, and colleagues in the Commission wrote, noting the disease affected 463 million people worldwide in 2019.

In recognition of November’s designation of Diabetes Awareness Month, Healio Primary Care compiled a list of stories about recent research on the detection, risks and management of diabetes.

App may help detect diabetes

A smartphone app may help detect early diabetes and prompt additional screening and testing by a health care provider, according to research presented at an American College of Cardiology Annual Scientific Session. Read more.

Preterm birth ‘hidden’ risk factor for diabetes into adulthood

Type 1 and type 2 diabetes are more likely to develop in individuals who were born preterm vs. those born at full term, according to findings published in Diabetologia. Read more.

Adrenal incidentalomas tied to increased risk for type 2 diabetes

An analysis of unselected adults who underwent a CT scan suggests that those who had an unsuspected adrenal tumor were more likely to have type 2 diabetes, although it is unclear whether cortisol secretion influences any risk, according to findings published in The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism. Read more.

Self-management education critical to turn tide against diabetes

The American Academy of Family Physicians, along with several other medical societies, released a report outlining clinical situations that warrant diabetes self-management education, the impact the program has on patients and more. Read more.

Noninjectable options to deliver insulin, manage diabetes

Several cutting-edge advances in noninjectable insulin delivery methods could offer new ways for people with diabetes to manage the disease and better control glucose response, with the possibility of an oral insulin formulation closer than ever before to becoming reality, according to a speaker at a World Congress on Insulin Resistance, Diabetes and Cardiovascular Disease. Read more.

Parent-child relationship key to reaching HbA1c goals in pediatric type 1 diabetes

Children with type 1 diabetes are less likely to maintain recommended HbA1c targets if they frequently experience turmoil with their parents and other family members, according to findings published in Diabetic Medicine. Read more.

CBT program ‘works wonders’ for patients with diabetes

A peer-delivered, cognitive behavioral therapy-based intervention improved functioning, pain, quality of life and self-reported physical activity in patients with diabetes and chronic pain, researchers reported in Annals of Family Medicine. Read more.

Pediatric CGM use improves sleep quality for children, not parents in type 1 diabetes

A small study of young children with type 1 diabetes and their parents suggests that continuous glucose monitoring technology may improve a child’s sleep but disrupts parents, findings published in Diabetes Technology & Therapeutics suggest. Read more.

Type 1, type 2 diabetes linked to higher odds of COVID-19 mortality in England

One-third of people in England who died of COVID-19 in a hospital through May 11 had previously been diagnosed with type 1 or type 2 diabetes, according to a study published in The Lancet Diabetes & Endocrinology. Read more.

Comprehensive care ‘crucial’ to reduce psychological burden of diabetes, COVID-19

Diabetes teams and clinics must incorporate comprehensive psychological care into any post-COVID-19 recovery plans to better serve patients who experienced disruptions in care as well as the providers who will be caring for them, an expert wrote. Read more.

References

• American Diabetes Association. November is American Diabetes Month. https://www.diabetes.org/community/american-diabetes-month. Accessed November 13, 2020.
• Chan JCN, et al. Lancet. 2020;doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(20)32374-6.