Articles

Raised blood pressure (BP) and excess body mass index (BMI) in middle age increases the risk of heart failure in later life, a new study suggests.

Patients prefer patient-physician email communication, which takes less time for physicians than does telephone messaging.

Dual measurement of waist circumference and triglyceride level can be used by GPs as a quick and accurate predictor of heart disease risk in apparently healthy individuals, new research shows. Only 1 in 4 patients get their waist measured by their physicians.

The cost to the U.S. economy of treatment and lost productivity caused by chronic illnesses among U.S. residents is more than $1.3 trillion per year, and if current trends are not reversed, costs could reach $6 trillion by 2050, according to a report released Tuesday by the Milken Institute.

After years of telling patients with diabetes that they need to get flu shots, we now are learning that the elderly may receive little to no benefit from annual influenza vaccinations, according to a review of current evidence study.

Only 47% of people with diabetes get yearly exams. Increasing patient and clinician awareness and improving access to health care can encourage people with diabetes to seek annual eye exams, which help prevent a serious complication called retinopathy, according to a new systematic review of studies.

Adding a single analog insulin formulation to metformin and sulfonylurea resulted in current best practice targets of a glycated hemoglobin level of 6.5% or less in fewer than one quarter of patients at 1 year.

Among patients treated with statins, including those who achieved very low levels of cholesterol with high-dose statin therapy, HDL-cholesterol levels are still predictive of major cardiovascular events.

Vildagliptin monotherapy is effective and well tolerated in treatment-naive elderly patients with type 2 diabetes, according to an analysis from 5 trials.

Many patients with diabetes say that the inconvenience and discomfort of constant therapeutic vigilance, particularly multiple daily insulin injections, has as much impact on their quality of life as the burden of intermediate complications.