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Eye Damage Can Start in Prediabetes

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— Study found significant corneal nerve damage even before full-blown type 2 diabetes

Elevated blood glucose poses a threat to the eyes even prior to a diabetes diagnosis, according to a Dutch population study.

In cross-sectional data of Maastricht Study participants, a more adverse glucose metabolism status was linked with a lower z score of corneal nerve fiber measures compared with a normal status (-0.14, 95% CI -0.25 to -0.04, P for trend=0.001), reported Sara Mokhtar, a PhD student at Maastricht University Medical Center in the Netherlands, and colleagues. Read more in MedPage Today.

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Our Hands Are Tied: Treating Prediabetes in Kids

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— We urgently need more research on pharmacological interventions for this growing epidemic

Prediabetes is an abnormal state of glucose homeostasis in which blood glucose levels are elevated above the range of normal but are not high enough to be classified as diabetes. A staggering 28% of U.S. youth ages 12 to 19 years are living with prediabetes. This number more than doubled from 1999 to 2018. Prediabetes and obesity are strongly correlated in a high-risk genetic backdrop, making them almost two sides of the same coin. The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has caused a rapid increase in both these problems in children.

There is increasing evidence to support that even before its progression to type 2 diabetes, prediabetes independently is a toxic metabolic state causing an increased risk of cardiovascular disease and mortality. Read more in MedPage Today.

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Medicare is using one of its biggest hammers to try to fix the dialysis system: how providers are paid

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Chronic kidney disease, already a problem affecting millions of Americans, is only expected to become more prevalent as the country ages. For those with end-stage disease, a transplant is the ideal treatment, but dialysis is their reality. Hundreds of thousands of Americans flock to clinics three times a week to have their blood filtered through — in the absence of a functioning kidney — a machine.

As a medical treatment, dialysis is a stopgap measure that fails to fix a chronic problem (average life expectancy on dialysis is five to 10 years). As an industry, dialysis has significant flaws, including a lag in home dialysis use. Read more in STAT.

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Managing and Preventing Diabetes After an Organ Transplant

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Complications of posttransplant diabetes mellitus can develop quickly, but appropriate management may prevent them.

People with end-stage kidney disease achieve better quality of life and survival rates with a kidney transplant than with dialysis, but if they develop posttransplant diabetes mellitus (PTDM), they are at high risk for rapidly developing cardiovascular disease or other complications. Maria Paula Martinez-Cantarin, MD, a nephrologist and researcher at Thomas Jefferson University, describes how physicians can manage PTDM and prevent complications. Read the full article from the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases.

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Walking more than 10,000 steps daily reduces mortality risk in prediabetes and diabetes

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Adults with prediabetes or diabetes have a reduced risk for all-cause mortality if they walk more than 10,000 steps per day, according to study findings published in Diabetes Care.

“Physical activity is very beneficial for patients with diabetes and prediabetes,” Jesús Del Pozo-Cruz, PhD, associate professor in the department of physical education and sport at the University of Seville in Spain, told Healio. “We provide the optimal number of steps per day to improve long-term health in these patients.” Read the full story in Healio.

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Mindfulness and meditation can improve overall health for people with diabetes

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BALTIMORE — Practicing meditation and mindfulness can reduce diabetes distress and improve diet, HbA1c, sleep and overall quality of life for people with diabetes, according to two speakers.

During a presentation at the Association of Diabetes Care & Education Specialists annual meeting, Peter Friedfeld and Brooke Cassoff, CHWC, co-founders and facilitators at Diabetes Sangha, an online group dedicated to meditation and mindfulness practices for people with diabetes, described how the practices can be incorporated into diabetes self-management and how diabetes care and education specialists can teach the principles to people with diabetes. Read the full story in Healio.

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COVID-19 not linked to increased long-term risk for CVD or diabetes

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People infected with COVID-19 do not have increased long-term risks for developing cardiovascular disease or diabetes, according to a study published in PLOS Medicine.

In findings from a population-based cohort study conducted in the U.K., the increased risk for CVD in people who contract COVID-19 begins to decline 5 weeks after infection, whereas the risk for diabetes remains elevated up to 23 weeks after infection before dropping back to preinfection levels. Read more in Healio.

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Health care professionals, patients agree on pathway for improving type 2 diabetes care

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New results have suggested an alignment of the perceived needs and wishes for improved type 2 diabetes care among people with diabetes and health care professionals, although important health care gaps persist.

“Globally, type 2 diabetes care is often fragmented and still organized in a provider-centered way, resulting in suboptimal care for many individuals,” Anthony Russell, MBBS, PhD, FRACP, director of endocrinology at Princess Alexandra Hospital and honorary associate professor at the Centre for Health Services Research at the University of Queensland in Brisbane, Australia, and colleagues wrote. Read more in Healio.

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