ADA: American Diabetes Association

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic will hopefully be a wakeup call to take diabetes more seriously and to work to prevent diabetes and its complications, said Robert Gabbay, MD, PhD, chief medical and scientific officer of the American Diabetes Association.

Many in the endocrinology community still endorse using metformin first in patients with type 2 diabetes, but that isn’t really necessary any more now that sodium-glucose transport protein 2 (SGLT2) inhibitors and glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) receptor agonists are available, said Darren K. McGuire, MD, MHSc, professor of medicine in the Division of Cardiology, Dallas Heart Ball Chair for Research on Heart Disease in Women, Distinguished Teaching Professor, at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center.

During a joint symposium on Saturday, held as part of the 80th American Diabetes Association Scientific Sessions and hosted by JDRF President and CEO Aaron Kowalski, PhD, experts debated the merits and pitfalls of how to measure glycemic control and overall health among persons with diabetes. Which is better, they asked: the traditional measure of glycated hemoglobin or the newer measure, time-in-range?

Obesity contributes to development of youth-onset type 2 diabetes (T2D) and can lead to detrimental health outcomes in adulthood. Researchers explored this relationship and offered insights on addressing the problem during a session at the American Diabetes Association’s (ADA) 80th Scientific sessions, held virtually due to coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).

The aim of this feasibility study was to determine whether digital health use via smartphones, a platform that adolescents are more engaged with than other age groups, could aid in teaching youth more about cardiovascular risks, and promote uptake of this knowledge so individuals increase heart healthy behaviors, said Tara Kaushal, MD, physician and clinical researcher at Joslin Diabetes Center.