Diabetes In Control. A free weekly diabetes newsletter for Medical Professionals. News and information for Medical Professionals.
TOP STORIES — Diabetes News and Research
Should Screening for Type 2 Diabetes Be More Aggressive?
Be Physically Active to Boost Your Immune Response
By Sheri Colberg, PhD
Letter from the Editor
As COVID-19 cases continue to increase on a daily basis, there is a natural concern to see what else we can do besides mask wearing, hand washing, and social distancing. Many people are searching for any extra protection they can find. Believe it or not, our health and fitness expert, Dr. Sheri Colberg, has some solutions, and as you can guess physical activity is a big one. She also looks at some other simple steps you, your patients and your families can take to increase your odds in avoiding the virus.
Share her article with all your friends and colleagues, as the article may just have the info they need to stay out of the hospital.
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We can make a difference!
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Dave Joffe
Editor-in-chief
TOP STORIES — Diabetes News and Research
Earlier diagnosis and treatment prevent complications.
By Sheri Colberg, PhD
In these challenging times, if we only could get a medication that would boost our immune system and response to viruses, lower all stress associated with being in a pandemic, and treat most of the pre-existing health conditions that are associated with a higher risk of dying from COVID-19, we would all be lined up for it! Guess what? We already have something that does all these things already.
A recently published meta-analysis puts metformin to the test to see how well it lines up against other T2DM “Medication All-Star Team” members.
Did You Know: T1D Lost Life Years 4x those for T2D:
Individuals with type 1 diabetes lose almost eight years of life compared to those without diabetes, while those with type 2 diabetes lose nearly two years, suggests a population-level analysis of mortality data.
The researchers note that the “sustained growth” in the number of patients with diabetes means that “effective early diagnosis and treatment…is vital” to avoid long-term comorbidities. In all, data on 41.3 million individuals registered at 6165 general practices were included in the analysis, of whom 217,000 were on the type 1 diabetes register and 2.5 million on the type 2 diabetes register. The team calculated that the average age of someone with type 1 diabetes in their cohort was 42.8 years, with an estimated future life expectancy of 32.6 years. This is compared with a future life expectancy of 40.2 years for an equivalent person without diabetes from the general population, which corresponds to an average lost life years (LLY) of 7.6 years per average person for someone with type 1 diabetes.
The average age of a person with type 2 diabetes in their study was 65.4 years, with a calculated future life expectancy of 18.6 years. In contrast, the average life expectancy for an equivalent person from the general population was 20.3 years, meaning that someone with type 2 diabetes had an LLY of 1.7 years per average person.
The researchers reasoned that lost life-years could be seen as a result of sub-optimal management, which can be viewed as poor glycemic control, as measured by HbA1c levels. Therefore, the total number of lost life days was allocated to the total number with higher HbA1c results and expected non-diabetes life expectancy to determine the number of life-days lost per life-year with elevated HbA1c. For your patients, the takeaway message is that for every year an individual with type 1 or type 2 diabetes spends with an HbA1c level greater than 7.5% (58 mmol/mol), their life could be shortened by approximately 100 life days.
Cardiovascular Endocrinology & Metabolism: June 2, 2020 – Volume Publish Ahead of Print – Issue – doi: 10.1097/XCE.0000000000000210