Health News
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In 2013, 10.6 percent of Kentucky adults had diabetes, a big increase from 2000, when 6.5 percent had the disease, according to the 2015 Kentucky Diabetes Report. In a few years, diabetics may no longer need to inject insulin, and researchers...
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Before Type 2 diabetes develops, most people experience what is called prediabetes, where the blood sugar levels are above normal, but below diabetic, Dr. Philip A. Kern, University of Kentucky professor and director of the Center for Clinical and Translational...
- Ten Common Myths About Diabetes Busted
Kentucky ranks 17th in diabetes, and many Kentuckians are newly diagnosed every year with the disease, usually Type 2 diabetes. The diagnosis can be overwhelming, especially if you don't have your facts straight. A report by Healthgrades on the CNN...
- Brown Fat, Already Known As A Super Calorie Burner,' Could Also Be A Key To Treating Type 2 Diabetes, Study Shows
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- Learning About Your Diabetes Risk
By Jamie Strauss, R.D., L.D.N., Clinical Dietitian, Sinai Hospital How many people do you know have diabetes? How many of those people that have diabetes knew they were at risk? And how many people are walking around undiagnosed? November is American...
Health News
Researchers say aggressively treating pre-diabetes could stop or delay future diabetic complications
Treating pre-diabetes as if it is diabetes could delay or prevent future related health complications, according to doctors from three leading research institutions and the American Diabetes Association, says a press release from the University of North Carolina School of Medicine.
The researchers writes in the journal Diabetes Care that "by not devising a treatment strategy for people with pre-diabetes, doctors run the risk of creating a pool of future patients with high blood sugar who then become more likely to develop serious complications, such as kidney disease, blindness, amputations, and heart disease."
Type 2 diabetes is diagnosed with a fasting blood sugar of 126 or higher; most of these patients are treated with medication. Prediabetes is diagnosed with sugar levels between 100 and 125, and the release says such patients are usually not treated aggressively.
"Diabetes is generally diagnosed and first treated about 10 years later than it could be. We waste this critical opportunity to slow disease progression and the development of complications," lead author Lawrence Phillips of Emory University said in the release.
Kentucky ranks 17th in diabetes, according to the 2014 "State of Obesity" report. The report projects that there will be an increase of 51 percent of people with diabetes in Kentucky by 2030, going from 394,029 people with diabetes in 2010 (or 10.6 percent) to 594,058. The Kentucky Cabinet for Health and Family Services reports an estimated 233,000 adult Kentuckians have pre-diabetes.
?We need to screen and track patients with pre-diabetes to manage their blood sugar more aggressively,? John Buse, professor of medicine and director of the UNC Diabetes Care Center, said in the release. ?We?re very confident this would spare our patients serious health issues down the road.?
Evidence for this study comes from clinical trials where "lifestyle changes and/or glucose-lowering medications decreased the progression of pre-diabetes to Type 2 diabetes," says the release. The future development of diabetes also remained less in those who implemented these changes and then withdrew from them compared to a pre-diabetic control group who did not get any interventions.
Patients who achieved a normal glucose level, even for a short time during the trials, showed a "substantial reduction in subsequent development of Type 2 diabetes," says the release.
The authors say in the release that based on this evidence diabetes management should change to include regular screening in adults for pre-diabetes and early Type 2 diabetes and if a patient has either one of these conditions and is determined to benefit from treatment, they should get "management that will keep their blood glucose levels as close to normal as possible."
The researchers writes in the journal Diabetes Care that "by not devising a treatment strategy for people with pre-diabetes, doctors run the risk of creating a pool of future patients with high blood sugar who then become more likely to develop serious complications, such as kidney disease, blindness, amputations, and heart disease."
Type 2 diabetes is diagnosed with a fasting blood sugar of 126 or higher; most of these patients are treated with medication. Prediabetes is diagnosed with sugar levels between 100 and 125, and the release says such patients are usually not treated aggressively.
"Diabetes is generally diagnosed and first treated about 10 years later than it could be. We waste this critical opportunity to slow disease progression and the development of complications," lead author Lawrence Phillips of Emory University said in the release.
Evidence for this study comes from clinical trials where "lifestyle changes and/or glucose-lowering medications decreased the progression of pre-diabetes to Type 2 diabetes," says the release. The future development of diabetes also remained less in those who implemented these changes and then withdrew from them compared to a pre-diabetic control group who did not get any interventions.
Patients who achieved a normal glucose level, even for a short time during the trials, showed a "substantial reduction in subsequent development of Type 2 diabetes," says the release.
The authors say in the release that based on this evidence diabetes management should change to include regular screening in adults for pre-diabetes and early Type 2 diabetes and if a patient has either one of these conditions and is determined to benefit from treatment, they should get "management that will keep their blood glucose levels as close to normal as possible."
- Insulin Patch Could Take The Place Of Injections For Diabetes
In 2013, 10.6 percent of Kentucky adults had diabetes, a big increase from 2000, when 6.5 percent had the disease, according to the 2015 Kentucky Diabetes Report. In a few years, diabetics may no longer need to inject insulin, and researchers...
- A Looming Danger: About 1 In 3 U.s. Adults Are Pre-diabetic, But Only About 11% Say They Have Received Such A Diagnosis
Before Type 2 diabetes develops, most people experience what is called prediabetes, where the blood sugar levels are above normal, but below diabetic, Dr. Philip A. Kern, University of Kentucky professor and director of the Center for Clinical and Translational...
- Ten Common Myths About Diabetes Busted
Kentucky ranks 17th in diabetes, and many Kentuckians are newly diagnosed every year with the disease, usually Type 2 diabetes. The diagnosis can be overwhelming, especially if you don't have your facts straight. A report by Healthgrades on the CNN...
- Brown Fat, Already Known As A Super Calorie Burner,' Could Also Be A Key To Treating Type 2 Diabetes, Study Shows
Better understanding brown fat could lead to future ways of treating obesity and type 2 diabetes, Abby Phillip reports for The Washington Post. A recent study published in The Journal of Cell Biology found that brown fat cells are not only great "super...
- Learning About Your Diabetes Risk
By Jamie Strauss, R.D., L.D.N., Clinical Dietitian, Sinai Hospital How many people do you know have diabetes? How many of those people that have diabetes knew they were at risk? And how many people are walking around undiagnosed? November is American...