TOP STORIES — Diabetes News and Research
Survey Indicates Inpatient Diabetes Care Must be Reformed NOW!
Letter from the Editor
One of my cycling friends called me on Tuesday night and was upset. His brother, who had diabetes and was on a pump, had gone into the hospital with a broken collarbone from a cycling accident. The hospitalist decided to keep him overnight for observation, and per hospital policy his pump was removed. When he questioned this he was told no one in the hospital knew how to operate it.
He begrudgingly agreed and gave the nurse his daily basal use, his carb ratio and correction factor, figuring they would just dose him with basal and rapid insulin. In the morning they brought him breakfast and the nurse checked glucose and dosed insulin based on a “standard” sliding scale. When he asked about a dose for the meal, he was told, “We don’t do that here, but don’t worry, we will check your glucose at lunch and fix it then.”
You probably already know what the result was, but more importantly it shows the lack of knowledge for accurate insulin use in that hospital.
It appears that is not an exception to the rule, but the norm in the hospital setting, as seen by the information that Kassey James, Pharm.D. Candidate, LECOM School of Pharmacy, has found in her research of the care levels of diabetes in hospitals.
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We can make a difference!
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Dave Joffe
Editor-in-chief
TOP STORIES -- Diabetes News and Research
When hospitals do not employ best practices in glucose control, patients with diabetes experience worse outcomes at greater costs.
New research attempts to untangle the conflicting literature on whether statins and SSTIs are linked.
Results from a retrospective cohort comparing metformin vs. sulfonylurea use in reduced kidney function.
Newsflash: FDA Authorizes Control-IQ Algorithm
The FDA yesterday authorized new technology aimed at making it easier than ever for people with type 1 diabetes (T1D) to manage blood glucose levels. They authorized the Control-IQ algorithm – which, when used with the t-slim X2 insulin pump and the Dexcom G6 CGM, enables a hybrid closed-loop system. This is only the second hybrid closed-loop system to receive FDA authorization. As correctly dosing insulin is challenging, the automated features of Control-IQ are designed to decrease the burden for people with T1D and to improve blood sugar management.
Did You Know: MACE Risk 50% Higher for Patients With Diabetes
Even a small perfusion deficit substantially amplifies risk for major adverse cardiovascular events among adults with diabetes vs. those without, according to findings published in Diabetes Care. Researchers reviewed single-photon emission computed tomography myocardial perfusion imaging readings from 2,951 patients with diabetes who were matched with 2,951 patients without diabetes and found that those with diabetes and a total perfusion deficit were at an increased risk for major adverse cardiovascular events versus those without diabetes or TPD, regardless of the severity of the deficit. They analyzed single-photon emission CT myocardial perfusion imaging readings from 2,951 adults with diabetes (mean age, 64 years; 49% women) to determine total perfusion deficit (TPD) percentages. The researchers then assessed instances of death, myocardial infarction, unstable angina, and late revascularization across a median follow-up time of 4.6 years in this population and a propensity-matched population of adults who did not have diabetes (mean age, 65 years; 49% women).
In conclusion, patients with diabetes were found to have a higher risk for MACE than patients without diabetes across all categories of quantitative perfusion abnormality. Patients with diabetes were found to have increased MACE risk even with the most minimal quantitative perfusion defects. Patients with diabetes with minimal ischemia had comparable MACE risk as patients without diabetes with significant ischemia.
Diabetes in Control gratefully acknowledges the assistance of the following pharmacy doctoral candidates in the preparation of this week’s newsletters:
Andrew Daoud, PharmD Candidate, Florida A&M University
Alessa Grieff, PharmD Candidate, University of South Florida College of Pharmacy
Kassey James, Pharm.D. Candidate, LECOM School of Pharmacy
Emma Kammerer, L|E|C|O|M Bradenton School of Pharmacy, PharmD Candidate
Maya Rudolph, Florida A&M University, College of Pharmacy & Pharmaceutical Sciences, PharmD Candidate
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