Safety and Error Prevention

Diabetes Disaster #68: FDA ALERT -- Insulin Pen Sharing

Insulin Pens and Insulin Cartridges Must Not Be Shared. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration issued an alert to health care professionals reminding them that single-patient insulin pens and insulin cartridges should not be used...

Diabetes Disaster Averted #67: The Cattle Syringe

A gentleman was referred to me for assistance in helping with glycemic control. He was a rancher. For the prior 2-3 years, his insulin type had been changed from NPH to Lantus and finally to Levemir in an attempt to help with his FBS control....

Animas Corp Receives Warning Letter from the FDA

In a warning letter to Animas posted online by the FDA, the agency wrote that inspectors found Animas never reported on one complaint about serious patient injury and delayed reporting on two others....

Editor's Note DCMS #66: Beware of Similar Medication Names

Last week I was walking in the OTC department in front of the pharmacy and I noticed a box of Fastin on the shelf. I was surprised by this as I knew that the RX version was phentermine 37.5 mg and could not believe that you could now...

Diabetes Disaster Averted #66: Beware of Similar Names

I work as a staff pharmacist at a community hospital in the Northeast. I received an order via POM for Nevirapine (brand = Viramune) 500 mg po BID. Since Viramune (an anti-retroviral medication) comes at 200 mg strength I decided to look into this...

Diabetes Disaster Averted #65: Language Interpretations

I was a CDE in a small community hospital and served many women with gestational diabetes who were Hispanic. I saw a woman who I had followed during a previous pregnancy where she required insulin. She had received education about starting on...

ADA Warns against New Driving Restrictions for Diabetes Patients

ADA has warned against blanket driving restrictions, instead recommending individual assessment....

Diabetes Disaster Averted #64: Long-Time Insulin Users Still Make Errors

I recently met with a patient to confirm his understanding of a correction schedule based on his pre-meal blood glucose. He'd been on insulin for more than 12 years.  On the 70/30 correction schedule, he and his wife were both able to find the ...

Editor's Note: AGEs, Errors and Teenagers

Over the past three issues we have focused on advanced glycation end-products (AGEs) -- how they are formed, what they can do, and why these compounds are detrimental to our patients' health. This week in our Homerun Slides, we are...

Diabetes Disaster Averted #63: Color Coding Discrepancy

Recently I was on a home visit with a client who was taking Novolin 30/70. She asked me why the insulin band on the cartridges in the fridge was a different color than what was in her pen. She told me the label on the insulin was...

Diabetes Disaster Averted #62: 'Double Dosage'

Several months ago I saw a patient with an approximately 15 yr history of DM2. He was seeing a primary care provider and an endocrinologist. On reviewing his medications I realized that he was taking Glucophage XR 750 tid and metformin...

Diabetes Disaster Averted #61: Double-Checking Dosages

A patient was admitted through the emergency room for a non-diabetes related event. At admission, it was reported that she took 36 units of Humalog twice daily. The primary care physician reviewed the current insulin dose, before he wrote the...

Diabetes Disaster Averted #60: Helping Patients Decipher Nutrition Labels

I had a patient who came in for instruction on carbohydrate counting in order to dose his insulin based on his carbohydrate intake. I instructed him on the use of food lists and food labels. When the patient returned...

Editor's Note: Pre-School Children with Diabetes

Have you ever had a patient who is a pre-school child with diabetes? Usually this means that the parents are trying to stay in control and the child wants more independence.

Diabetes Disaster Averted #59: Bedtime Prescription

I had a type 2 diabetic patient whose fasting blood sugars were all over the place. The patient was on 34 units of Lantus that she stated she took every night. After asking more questions I realized that on the patient's prescription for ...

Diabetes Disaster Averted #58: Ask the Right Questions

We had a type 2 diabetes patient who was scheduled for surgery. The surgeon knew she was going to need assistance with this patient and contacted an appropriate medical doctor. The doctor suggested that the patient take only half of the usual...

Diabetes Disaster Averted #57: Phone Orders Prone to Errors

An elderly patient was admitted from an ECF to a Medical Subspecialty floor. She was on Lantus 8 units every night at the ECF. The nurse called the MD for admission orders. He inquired how much insulin the patient was on at the ECF. The...

Diabetes Disaster Averted #56: Medication Adherence

I recently met with a Type 2 patient (Jim/52y/o) with an A1c of 9.5%. The first thing I did was to review his medications: he stated he was on 40u of Lantus BID, Glucophage SR 750mg , 2 tablets BID, and Victoza 1.8mg, Lipitor 20mg, and Aspirin...

Diabetes Disaster Averted #55: Medication Mix-up

An elderly patient noticed that his usually good control with a 70/30 insulin pen had diminished recently, and stopped by our diabetes education program to ask for help....

Diabetes Disaster Averted #54: New Infusion Set Hyperglycemia Puzzle

I had often been puzzled by statements, made by some of my patients who use insulin infusion pumps, such as, "I notice elevated blood glucose levels after I insert a new infusion set." This never made sense to me as a source for hyperglycemia...

Diabetes Disaster Averted #53: Insulin Incident

I recently spoke with a Certified Diabetes Care Educator about a particular patient whose "Diabetes Disaster Averted" demonstrated the need for patient education, including the awareness of when something's not...

Diabetes Disaster Averted #52: Heparin and Insulin Mix-Up

How can injectable heparin wind up in an insulin syringe? Your first thought may be a vial mix-up in which a nurse, pharmacist, or pharmacy technician accidentally drew heparin into an insulin syringe, believing it was insulin. But...

Diabetes Disaster Averted #51: Careful Listening Saves Lives

A few years ago, I was working as a Nurse Practitioner in an endocrinology practice.  One of my longstanding elderly patients, age 82, called me to report that the paramedics had to come to her house because she passed out....

Diabetes Disaster Averted #50: How Long Should Insulin Be Used Once a Vial Is Started?

Diabetic patients treated with insulin, whether for type 1 or type 2 diabetes, are prone to often unexplained swings in their blood glucose. These swings can vary from dangerously low to persistently high levels. Most diabetic patients, and...

Diabetes Disaster Averted #49: Indication Can Prevent Errors

For a patient with known diabetes, a pharmacy technician typed the medication order in Figure 1 as "Lantus inject 80 units at bedtime," then dispensed 3 vials or 30 mL. The pharmacist read the order the same way while checking the...

Insulin Pumps Can Increase or Decrease Insulin Dose when Flying

Changes in cabin pressure during flights may cause insulin pumps to deliver too much or too little of the medication -- possibly putting sensitive diabetes patients at risk, researchers report....

Lilly Updates Humulin R U-500 label to Prevent Errors

The labeling of HUMULIN R (insulin regular) U-500 was updated recently. The new label includes information about medication errors and their prevention....

Diabetes Disaster Averted #48: Lactose vs. Lactulose

I recently got a call at my office from a home healthcare nurse who was visiting one of my patients who was suffering from cirrhosis of the liver and experiencing high ammonia levels....

Diabetes Disaster Averted #47: Mixed Insulin Dosages Lost in Translation

I work in a large teaching hospital in the Northeast and recently had an order written for mixed insulin for a new admission that seemed very odd. One of our newer residents wrote an order for Humalog 75/25: give 9 units at breakfast, 7 units...

Diabetes Disaster Averted #46: When It's Too Hot to Handle

I recently had one of my long term type 1 patients on an insulin pump run into a big problem. She had been on an older pump for about 5 years and had recently changed brands because of the features of the newer pump….

Diabetes Disaster Averted #45: Pharmacist Follow-up Catches Insulin Oversight

An underweight 77-year-old white male with 20-year history of insulin-dependent DMT2 was admitted to community hospital's emergency department with fever, chills, irregular heartbeat, and infrequent foamy urine output. Alert but disoriented...

Weight-Based Insulin Dosing Safe at Recommended Doses

Weight-based insulin doses up to 0.6 units per kilogram are associated with a low risk of hypoglycemia, according to a new report....

Diabetes Disaster Averted #44: Testing and Driving

A client had an A1C of 7.5% and her blood sugars were all over the chart. She had been coming for three months but had no explanation of the 37 to 300mg/dl readings.  She stated that she never felt a low and could not understand why the...

Diabetes Disaster Averted #43: Carbohydrate Education

A new patient who was diagnosed with diabetes last year became my patient after his insurance required a change of clinicians. He is very active, watches what he eats and how much, but still his labs show otherwise. He was frustrated ...

Diabetes Disaster Averted #42: Anti-inflammatory Steroids and "Hypoglycemia"

I recently had a 55 year old gentleman who started experiencing severely low glucose readings and called me on the phone. We went over his food, his activity and his diabetes medications and all seemed correct....

E-Prescribing Does Not Prevent Errors

Outpatient electronic prescribing systems don't cut out the common mistakes made in manual systems, suggests published research in JAMIA....

Diabetes Disaster Averted #41: Glucagon Mini-Dosing -- A Valuable Tool

My son Jason was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes at the age of 3. As a medical professional I felt fairly confident in the use of a Glucagon Kit in an emergency. But I never needed to use it until one morning over a weekend....

Diabetes Disaster Averted #40: Pump Confusion

I was sent in to see a patient with very poor control on an insulin pump.  When I reviewed his log sheets, I kept seeing 7 unit boluses at almost every meal. I asked the patient why he kept giving himself 7 units...

Diabetes Disaster Averted #39: Dialing in On Insulin Pens

I recently had a patient whose blood glucose levels were not under control. Her blood sugar was over 400 when she was referred to me and she had started on an insulin pen. Rather than try to change doses I thought I would check out her technique...

FDA Warns Healthcare Professionals to Closely Monitor Patients with Diabetes Receiving Liraglutide Injections

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) warned healthcare professionals to closely monitor patients with diabetes receiving liraglutide injections (Victoza, Novo Nordisk) for thyroid C-cell tumors and acute pancreatitis....

Diabetes Disaster Averted #38: Younger Athletes -- Keep it Cool!

I have an insulin pump patient 12 years of age who is a competitive soccer and baseball player. During practices and games, her sugars were trending high (375 plus) which many times took her out of her games....

Diabetes Disaster Averted #37: Error Caught Just in Time

Recently, I had a type 2 patient using insulin to control their diabetes in the hospital overnight for minor surgery. One of the in-hospital interns reviewed their current medications and...

Diabetes Disaster Averted #36: Mixing Insulins

Recently I saw a type 1 DM patient diagnosed in 1980 at 15 years of age. She had not seen an educator in quite some time but had changed from NPH/Regular to Lantus & Regular....

Diabetes Disaster Averted #35: Infusion Set Risks

I was working with a patient who'd recently had a pump upgrade and although he said he didn't have problems or issues with infusion set changes, I urged him to change his set while I was present....

Diabetes Disaster Averted #34: Changing Medication Formulation

I recently had a type 2 patient who was blending his foods due to gastroparesis. He would put his foods in a blender before eating to get better and timelier absorption....

Diabetes Disaster Averted #33: Awareness of Side Effects

After starting a new medication (gabapentin) for his neuropathy, a patient of mine gained 30lbs and presented with peripheral edema without symptoms....

Diabetes Disaster Averted #32: Excessive Needle Bruising Conundrum

A physician asked me to see his patient, a middle-aged woman who was using an insulin pen.  She had extensive bruising at her injection sites, with no simple explanation.  She was not taking any medications associated with increased bleeding,...

Diabetes Disaster Averted #31: Injection Site Technique

I saw an obese long-term person with Type 2 diabetes who was experiencing widely fluctuating BGs and had had two hospitalizations within the previous six months, one for a BG of 28mg dl and one for an infested hair follicle (BG 413 mg/dl in...

Patients with Type 2 Diabetes Lack Knowledge about Hypoglycemia

A national online survey of more than 2,530 adults living with Type 2 diabetes in the US reveals that many patients remain uneducated about the risks for hypoglycemia....

Diabetes Disaster Averted #30: Syringe Type Mystery

My colleague and I were working with a client new to insulin. We each saw him separately. He was taking Lantus® and Humalog® by syringe at meals. He had been taught how to use the syringe by his physician's office staff....

Diabetes Disaster Averted #29: Clinic Cartridge Mix-up Cause for Concern

"We recently learned about an error involving Lilly insulin pens. The event happened at a clinic that dispenses insulin pens to patients for use at home. The pen devices were stored on a cabinet shelf while the Lilly HUMALOG insulin...

Diabetes Disaster Averted #28: Insulin Resistance and the Flu

A patient called to report that they had the flu, were vomiting and had diarrhea. The patient was not eating and so assumed, because of this, that....

Diabetes Disaster #27: Vision Loss Avoidable

Surveys indicate that eyesight is the one sense that Americans fear losing most. Several weeks ago, I examined a patient who complained of "sudden" onset vision loss....

Diabetes Disaster Averted #26: Multi-tasking Mishap

A patient who felt he was good at multi-tasking gave himself the wrong insulin. Instead of taking 10 units of long acting insulin, he gave himself 10 units of rapid acting insulin....

Diabetes Disaster Averted #25: Unique Side Effect of Statin Therapy

A 70-year-old male with a history of diabetes, coronary artery disease, hyperlipidemia, and hypertension presented to the clinic for follow-up. His chief complaint was...

Tight Control in Advanced Diabetes Still Risky

Excess mortality seen with ultra-tight glucose control in high-risk patients with established Type 2 diabetes persisted despite termination of that arm of the study, researchers warned in mid-term reporting from the ACCORD...

One in 20 Diabetes Diagnoses a 'Serious Error'

UK physicians have been told to review all of their patients with diabetes to identify the one in 20 patients that research suggests may have been misdiagnosed or incorrectly classified with the disease....

Safety of Insulin Glargine Use in Pregnancy

The study was done to compare the safety of using Glargine in place of NPH insulin....

Millions Risk Early Death Due to Diabetes Diagnosed or Treated Improperly

Poor diagnosis and ineffective treatment of diabetes may put millions of people worldwide at risk for early death....

Diabetes Disaster Averted #24: A Common Error with Insulin Pumps

I was working with a patient who'd recently had a pump upgrade and although he said he didn't have problems or issues with infusion set changes, I urged him to change his set while I was present. In the process, he did very well with ...

High Blood Sugars Increases Death Risk by 23% in Hospitalized Elderly

In hospitals, a blood glucose level of 180 mg/dl or less might be an appropriate target in people who have not been diagnosed with diabetes....

Diabetes Disaster Averted #23: Medication Confusion

A middle-aged woman, mildly obese, with Type 2 diabetes was hospitalized in the ICU, and the order on her chart was documented "Lispro 90 units at HS," then the "9" was crossed off and a "6" written above it....

Self-Monitoring of Blood Glucose: Use First or Second Drop of Blood?

The study investigated whether capillary glucose concentrations, as measured in the first and second drops of blood, differed ≥10% compared with a control glucose concentration in different situations....

Diabetes Disaster Averted #22: Unexpected Side Effects

A 58-year-old male with a history of Type 2 diabetes and nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (diagnosed in 2006) presented to a clinic for diabetes management. At the time, the patient's aspartate aminotransferase (AST) was 53 U/L...

Quality Varies in Social Networking Websites for Diabetics

Researchers in the Children's Hospital Boston Informatics Program performed an in-depth evaluation of ten diabetes websites, looking at their quality of information....

Diabetes Disaster #21: Dosage Mix-up Consequences

A patient in a nursing home with diabetes was put on a feeding tube at noon. At the time her blood glucose level was at 418 and she was given her normal dose of regular insulin.  At 2 pm her blood sugar had climbed to 453. The...

A 495% Increase in Annual Incidence of Unintentional Therapeutic Errors Involving Insulin

Unintentional therapeutic errors involving insulin occurred primarily in adults more than 40 years old (73%) and occurred between the hours of 6-12PM....

FDA Spells Out Who Can Use Rosiglitazone

Rosiglitazone label updated to include elevated risk of cardiovascular events....

Diabetes Disaster Averted #20: Insulin Pumps and Waterbeds

I recently had a pump patient who suddenly started having a problem in the morning with hypoglycemia, 30 minutes after arising but prior to taking her bolus for her breakfast.  We recommended she change her infusion set and insertion area...

A Systematic Review of Newer Drugs for Glucose Control

The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) issued an updated Guideline for newer drugs for the management of all aspects of Type 2 diabetes. The guidelines...

Beware: Home-Use Glucose Monitors Not Ideal in Hospital Surgical Situations

In surgical situations, fluctuation in patients' blood glucose levels can be harmful, so physicians take frequent measurements using the inexpensive glucose meters approved by the FDA for home use which were found to be off by as much as...

Diabetes Disaster Averted #19: When It's Not a Good Idea to Recycle

Sometimes, just a simple instruction on the use of an insulin pen can prevent serious problems….

Glucose Meters Can Give Inaccurate Readings

Portable meters used to gauge blood sugar levels in pregnant women with diabetes gave readings that differed from lab tests by up to 16%....

Diabetes Disaster Averted #18: Even the Most Experienced Make Mistakes

A 53-year-old Hispanic woman presents for an initial evaluation of Type 2 diabetes. The patient was first diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes 15 years ago. She has since been noticing mild paresthesias of the feet....

Why Don't People Take Their Insulin as Prescribed?

Risk factors differed between Type 1 and Type 2 diabetic patients, with diet nonadherence more prominent in Type 1 diabetes and….

Diabetes Disaster Averted #17: Patient Injection Mistakes

I made a home visit to a housebound patient who had uncontrolled blood glucose, in spite of her physician having increased her insulin dose over a period of two weeks to twice her previous dose.  The physician requested that I ask in depth...

Diabetes Disaster Averted #16: ID Bracelet Prevents Trip to ER

I had a patient who was diabetic and on insulin. He was a young man who liked to go out on weekends. I stressed how he needed to wear a medical ID bracelet and he did purchase one....

Diabetes Disaster Averted #15: Handling Accidental Insulin Injection

I am a diabetes educator and have built a small business helping senior citizens care for their animals with diabetes. It seems that most of the pets I see are small dogs...

Diabetes Disaster Averted #14: Small Type Is a Big Danger

An elderly patient had attained good control with 70/30 insulin pen for a while but recently noticed his control was diminishing...

Diabetes Disaster Averted #13: Managing Weight-Loss Insulin Changes

I recently started working with a 58 y/o gentleman who had insulin dependent Type 2 diabetes. He was 110 pounds overweight, and was using 120 units of Lantus and 30 units of Humalog daily. His most recent A1c was 8.6....

Diabetes Disaster Averted #12: Timing is Everything

I work part-time as a consultant pharmacist for a local long-term care facility. About two months ago we started having an increased incidence of...

Diabetes Disaster Averted #11: Label Literacy

I am a dietitian working as a diabetes educator. I often work with patients on insulin, and teach insulin to carb ratios and correction factors....

Diabetes Disaster Averted #10: Look-Alike Syringe Problem

A nurse mistook a standard tuberculin syringe for an insulin syringe and gave a patient 50 units of insulin instead of the prescribed 5 units....

Diabetes Disaster Averted #9: Calibrating Correctly

A VA Pharmacist received an order for 40 units of U-500 insulin and questioned its validity. The actual dose desired by the physician was...

Diabetes Disaster Averted #8: Mail-Order Mix-Up

During a recent phone follow-up call to one of my patients a co-worker and I avoided a "Diabetes Disaster." My patient told me...

Diabetes Disaster Averted #7: Double-Checking Calculations Saves Patient from Multiple Problems

I am a Nurse Practitioner, CDE, working in a busy endocrinology practice and seeing mainly diabetes patients. One of the endocrinologists started a patient on....

Hypothyroidism Falsely Raises HbA1c and Glycated Albumin Levels

Hypothyroidism is associated with increased HbA1c and glycated albumin levels despite normal blood glucose levels, which can lead to misdiagnosis of diabetes and prediabetes, researchers report....

Warning: Even Mini-Needles Can Inject into Muscle Depending upon Technique

Defining the ideal injection techniques when using 5-mm (3/16 inch) needles or longer in children and adults is important to prevent from injecting intramuscular instead of intradermally and...

Popular Dietary Supplement Linked to Diabetes: Study

A new study has linked the popular over-the-counter dietary supplement glucosamine with a risk of developing diabetes....

Patient Beware: Social Media Can Provide Inaccurate Diabetes Information

At a time when patients are increasingly turning to social media such as Facebook for information about medical conditions and their treatment, a new study raises disturbing questions about the accuracy of the information on these...

Diabetes Disaster Averted #6: Incorrect Injection Technique Caught in Time

I had the pleasure of working with an elderly gentleman who was living alone.  When he switched from insulin pens to....

Diabetes Disaster Averted #5: Pharmacist's Diligence Saves Patient's Health and Money

I am a retail pharmacist working in a busy chain pharmacy.  A patient came in and requested a temporary supply of his Crestor 40 mg tablets because....

Diabetes Disaster Averted #4: Patient Query Helps to Catch Dosing Error

I was working as a diabetes nurse in a hospital when a patient I was seeing asked me to find out why she experienced two recent hypoglycemic episodes. She came into the hospital...

Diabetes Disaster Averted #3: Abbreviations Will Get U in Trouble

The cause of many insulin errors is the use of abbreviations in written orders. The abbreviation "U" for "units" has often been misread as a zero, resulting in serious, tenfold overdoses. Recently, we heard about three new cases that illustrate...

Office Blood Pressure Readings Result in Incorrect Diagnoses & Treatment Changes 81% of the Time

Blood pressure readings taken in clinical settings may lead to inaccurate diagnoses as much as 81% of the time, according to research presented at the American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP) 2010 Scientific...

Diabetes Disaster Averted #2: Insulin Pump Mystery

"One of our pump-using patients reported a sudden increase in blood glucose lasting several days. No ketones were present, but the blood glucose was chronically elevated (300 mg/dl plus). Changing infusion sets didn't fix it. Rotating to a...

The Efficacy and Safety of Using Concentrated Insulin Human Regular (U-500)

The efficacy and safety of and key clinical considerations for using U-500 insulin human regular in the treatment of high-dose insulin-treated patients in a wide variety of settings are examined…

Diabetes Disaster Averted #1: U-500 Pharmacy Error

Last year I converted a patient to Humulin R U-500 Insulin for use in her pump. I called a chain pharmacy to order the prescription and, to make sure there would not be any confusion, gave the pharmacist the NDC number....

Postoperative High Blood Sugar Associated with Surgical Site Infection

High blood glucose levels after surgery may be an important risk factor for infection at the surgical site in patients having general surgery, according to a report....

Hyperglycemic Emergencies

Lana Kravarusic Doctor of Pharmacy Candidate, University of Florida 

A1c Test for Diagnosis Not Perfect: Study

The limited sensitivity of the A1C test may result in missed or delayed diagnosis of Type 2 diabetes, whereas the use of current OGTT criteria will fail to identify a high proportion of individuals with A1C >6.5%. Further studies and discussion...

FDA & CDC WARNING: Limit Fingerstick Devices to Just One Patient

Fingerstick devices along with insulin pens should never be used with more than one person… 

Switching Statins Often Leads to Wrong Doses: Not All Statins Are the Same

A third of patients on lipid-lowering therapy received inadequate doses of generic simvastatin after being switched from atorvastatin (Lipitor), an analysis of a large pharmacy database showed…  

New Information on CPR: Mouth to Mouth May Not Be Necessary

The results support a strategy for CPR performed by laypersons that emphasizes chest compression and minimizes the role of rescue breathing…  

Diabetes Patients Should Avoid the Heat

Hot weather and diabetes can make for a potentially dangerous combination, according to a Mayo Clinic presentation. The ability to sweat in the heat can be impaired in some patients with diabetes. Also, glucose strips...

Study Finds Visually Impaired People Get Insulin Pen Dosages Right

Study shows visually impaired people can use insulin pens even though the labels on the popular insulin pen used by people with diabetes warn against visually-impaired people using pens to measure out and administer their insulin...

World-Wide Standards for Glucose Test Coming Soon

Global standardization is in the works for hemoglobin A1c measurement, according to a consensus statement by the major diabetes associations.... 

Limited Health Literacy Increases Safety Risks for Patients with Diabetes

People with diabetes who have limited health literacy are at higher risk for hypoglycemia or low blood sugar, according to a new study....

Prostate Meds Probed by the FDA for Risks of Diabetes and Heart Disease

The FDA announced that it's reviewing the safety of a class of prostate cancer drugs, following up on data that suggest an increased risk of diabetes and certain heart problems....

Metformin-induced Vitamin B12 Deficiency Presenting as a Peripheral Neuropathy

Chronic metformin use results in vitamin B12 deficiency in 30% of patients. Exhaustion of vitamin B12 stores usually occurs after twelve to fifteen years of absolute vitamin B12 deficiency....

Estimated Average Glucose (eAG) Underestimates Mean Blood Glucose

Translating A1c into eAG produced biased estimates of MBG downloaded from patient glucose meters....

Amylin, Lilly's Byetta May Have Cancer Risk, FDA Says

Amylin Pharmaceuticals, Inc., and Eli Lilly & Co.'s long-acting Byetta may be tied to increased cancer risk, a top U.S. regulator said, raising concerns that the experimental diabetes drug may need strict warnings....

Efficacy and Safety of a High Protein, Low Carbohydrate Diet for Weight Loss

The low carbohydrate, high protein diet was found to be safe and effective for weight loss in severely obese adolescents....

Parental Monitoring Crucial in Childrens Adherence to Diabetes Treatment

Preteens and teenagers with Type 1 diabetes have more trouble sticking to their treatment plan -- thus raising their risk of blindness, kidney failure and heart disease -- if their parents...

New Data Challenge 130 mm Hg as Systolic BP Target in Diabetes

The official U.S. guideline that patients with diabetes should receive treatment to a blood pressure target of less than 130/80 mm Hg became suspect following reports from a pair of large studies showing no benefit in these patients beyond...

Preventing Medication Errors

Institute for Safe Medication Practices

tPA for Stroke Moving Out to 4.5 Hours:

Interview with Ralph L. Sacco, MD. Strokes are increasing in our diabetes patients as they age and tPA has been the standard of care in the emergency room, but within 3 hours or forget it. Now...

A Message from Medtronic

To Customers Previously Using "Lot 8" Quick-set* Infusion Sets

Change at the FDA

David Kliff, Publisher, Diabetic Investor, has been looking at the President-elect’s recent appointments and keeps wondering who will be the new head the Food and Drug Administration. Whoever it is will have an interesting road ahead of...

Risks for Drug Induced Pancreatitis

With all the press lately about the incretin mimetics and pancreatitis our current intern, Jennifer Webb, PharmD Candidate, FAMU has taken a look at the facts, and compared the chances of pancreatitis among classes of drugs and how the risk of...