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On this page, we will announce news and local events relating to the West Suffolk Diabetes Service. We will also present new developments and research initiatives from throughout the world of diabetes.
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18 April 2008
Research published at the Diabetes UK conference in Spring 2008 show a high prevalence of diabetes in Birmingham. The Deadly Trio project reported that nearly 15% of men over the age of 40 years have diabetes in Birmingham. This figure is 9% higher than the national average. It was thought the high prevalence of T2D is due to obesity and high levels of deprivation.
ref: Poster 362, Diabetes UK, March 2008. Detecting undiagnosed diabetes in men using the deadly Trio Project.
25 March 2008
Preliminary results of the ADVANCE Study, a large diabetes trial involving over 11,000 high risk patients with type 2 diabetes, show no evidence of an increased risk of death among patients receiving intensive treatment to lower blood glucose.
In the ADVANCE study, the intensive blood glucose lowering program aimed to reduce HbA1c to below 6.5%. In view of the unexpected report from the ACCORD trial (see news item 27th February), the investigators in the ADVANCE study looked at their data to assess whether there was any evidence to support the suggestion that intensive blood glucose lowering may increase mortality.
28 February 2008
A meta-anlaysis published in Diabetes Care has shown that Cinnamon does not appear to improve A1C, fasting blood glucose, or lipids in people with type 1 or type 2 diabetes. The study was a statistical analysis of published evidence to date and included five prospective randomised studies involving 282 subjects.
Reference: Effect of Cinnamon on Glucose Control and Lipid Parameters Baker et al, Diabetes Care 31:41-43, 2008
It has been known for several years that there are potentially a large number of people in the UK who have undiagnosed diabetes. Diabetes is a condition which may develop without causing any symptoms. In the absence of a programme for routine screening it is recognised that a siginificant number of people may remain undiagnosed for several years.
A study published in the British Journal of General Practice has reported the results of using software to detect 'missed' diabetes in General Practice.
The work done by a team from the University of Warwick, University of Nottingham, Imperial College London and EMIS a software provider, showed that using the software to analyse data held on General Practice Computer databases, helped identify people with high blood glucose levels in whom a diagnosis of diabetes had not been formally made.
27 February 2008
A large Diabetes study funded by the National Heart Lung and Blood Institute in the USA, was abandoned prematurely due to an unexplained disparity in death rate noted in one section of the study.
The ACCORD study (Action to Control Cardiovascular Risk in Diabetes) recruited people with Type 2 diabetes who were at high risk of heart attacks or stroke. One part of this study was to examine the benefit of intensive blood glucose control in this group of patients compared with more standard blood glucose treatment.
In the group of patient who were intensively treated, death rates were 20% higher than in the group on conventional treatment. The study has not been published as yet. However, an editorial in the Journal of the Endocrine Society reports that this is a difference of 3 deaths for every 1000 participants per year, over an average of four years of treament. It is also reported that death rates in both groups were lower than expected.
The reasons for the difference in mortality rates is not known. The people particpating in the ACCORD study were those at very high risk of heart attack and stroke. They had a history of diabetes for ten years and average age of subjects was over 60 years. More information may emerge when full details of the study are published.
21 February 2008
Research published in the February edition of the American Journal of Medicine has shown that Metformin may be beneficial if you are at risk of type 2 diabetes.
A meta-analysis of over thirty previously published studies which used Metformin in over four and a half thousand people without diabetes has shown that using Metformin in persons at risk for diabetes improves weight, lipid profiles, and insulin resistance, and reduces new-onset diabetes by 40%.
A meta-analysis refers to a detailed study of several publications using statistical methods to identify trends.
