Diabetes In Control. A free weekly diabetes newsletter for Medical Professionals. News and information for Medical Professionals.
This week there was a change in guidelines concerning the use of cholesterol lowering medications. New guidelines from the American College of Cardiology and the American Heart Association (ACC/AHA) point towards as much as a 30% increase in patients where statins are indicated. In addition the Obesity Society weighed (no pun intended) in with their guidelines. This combination of guidelines meant to replace ATP-III puts a lot of responsibility on the patient to do the right things. One has to wonder if there is a 30% increase in patients taking statins will there be a 30% increase in the side effects of the statins, especially muscle pain? What will this do to the exercise guidelines that the Obesity Society has inserted into the plan and will patients find it harder to exercise without pain?
These new guidelines are a perfect lead-in for this week’s article from Dr. Sheri Colberg-Ochs as she talks about Exercise Recommendations for Older Adults.
If you only have a couple of minutes to explain to patients what their A1c means in relation to their glucose monitor values then you will want to stick copies of this week’s Tool for Your Practice in every exam room to hand out to all your diabetes patients.
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Dave Joffe, Editor-in-chief