Type II

Heart Failure in Type 2 Diabetes

The risk of developing heart failure in patients with type 2 diabetes is double for men and triple for women, compared to patients who do not have diabetes. Heart failure is not the most common comorbid condition in diabetes patients, but a 17-year long nationwide real-life cohort study found that it is the most fatal.  Read […]

Why Patients with Type 2 Need Early Treatment for Heart Risk

Researchers looked at 5 risk factors for heart disease: blood pressure, smoking, cholesterol, triglycerides, and blood glucose, and found that most people with type 2 did not have all 5 risk factors within target range, and even those who had the 5 factors under control still had higher risk for cardiovascular disease and heart failure. […]

Should Younger People Be Screened for Type 2 Diabetes?

Current guidelines for type 2 diabetes recommend screening in patients without symptoms of diabetes only if they are older than 40 years of age, and have obesity or overweight. However, a new study urges that screening at-risk patients between 18 and 39 years old would result in better treatment and cost effectiveness. Read more

Being Physically Active Can Boost Your Immune Response

Physical activity can boost our immune system and response to viruses, lower the stress associated with being in a pandemic, and treat many pre-existing health conditions that are associated with a higher risk of complications or death from COVID-19, according to diabetes exercise expert Dr. Sheri Colberg. Read more

Assessing Metformin in the Diabetes Landscape

Metformin is the standard first medication treatment of choice for people newly diagnosed with type 2 diabetes. A group of researchers decided to examine whether metformin, which this year celebrates its 63rd anniversary as a type 2 diabetes treatment, continues to earn its spot as a key member of the diabetes medication “All-Star Team.” Read more

Combining a Fitbit Device with Diabetes Management App Yields Benefits

A study in Taiwan found the use of a diabetes management app called Health2Sync in combination with Fitbit wearable devices can help users control and better manage the symptoms of type 2 diabetes. Read more

The Consequences of Polypharmacy in the Elderly

Many older patients with type 2 diabetes deal with polypharmacy — taking multiple medications for their diabetes and other conditions. Polypharmacy can be burdensome in various ways, including multiple side effects of the various medications. Researchers investigated whether the use of polypharmacy put elderly patients at increased risk for hospitalization, falls, and death from all […]

Sotagliflozin and Chronic Kidney Disease

A recent phase 3 clinical trial on the diabetes drug sotagliflozin, an SGLT2 inhibitor, found it had favorable results for people living with severe renal impairment / chronic kidney disease.  Read more

How Do Metformin and Exercise Affect Glucose?

People who have prediabetes or type 2 diabetes are usually urged to make lifestyle modifications, including diet, exercise, and weight control as the first form of treatment; metformin is typically the first drug prescribed when lifestyle interventions are insufficient. A recent study examined how the interface of physical activity and metformin affects post-meal glucose in […]

Drug Combo Could Help Patients Who No Longer Respond to Metformin

Metformin is the first-line drug treatment for type 2 diabetes, but in some patients, the drug’s effectiveness can decline over time. A clinical trial has found that a combination of two newer diabetes drugs, exenatide and dapagliflozin, is effective in patients whose blood glucose levels did not respond to metformin. Read more

Magnesium May Reduce Type 2, Stroke Risk

Adequate magnesium in the diet can reduce the risk of both type 2 diabetes and strokes, researchers say, so levels of magnesium should be periodically monitored in patients who are at an increased risk for cardiovascular disease or type 2 diabetes. Read more

Most People May Be Vulnerable to Type 2, Study Says

Insulin may have reached an evolutionary dead end, a group of scientists say. This means that insulin’s ability to adapt to obesity is limited, which renders most people vulnerable to type 2 diabetes. Read more

Can DPP-4 Inhibitors Increase Pneumonia Risk?

Patients with diabetes have a higher risk for developing pneumonia, including viral pneumonia. Since the DPP-4 protein plays a role in infection for some coronaviruses, researchers wanted to study whether using DPP-4 inhibitor diabetes drugs could increase risk for pneumonia. Read more

Which Diabetes Drug Class is Better for the Heart?

Uncontrolled or poorly controlled type 2 diabetes is linked to many serious consequences, including death, heart failure, stroke, and myocardial infarction. A recent study compared the use of two antidiabetic medications, SGLT-2 inhibitors (such as Invokana and Jardiance) and GLP-1 receptor agonists (such as Bydureon and Farxiga), to see if one offered better cardiovascular protection. […]

Drugs Used to Treat HIV, Hepatitis May Also Prevent Type 2

A class of drugs called Nucleoside reverse-transcriptase inhibitors (NRTIs), which has long used to treat HIV and hepatitis B viral infections, appears to prevent the development of type 2 diabetes in a substantial number of patients who take these drugs, according to a new data analysis. Read more

“Super Pea” May Help Control Blood Sugar Spikes

A type of wrinkled “super pea” could potentially help control blood sugar levels and thus reduce the risk of type 2 diabetes, according to researchers from the Imperial College London, the John Innes Centre, Quadram Institute Bioscience and University of Glasgow, UK. The researchers suggest incorporating the peas into foods, whether as whole pea seeds […]

Dulaglutide Can Help Protect the Heart

Cardiovascular issues in people with type 2 diabetes are approximately twice as common as in individuals without type 2. The results of a large trial, REWIND, suggest that dulaglutide (also called Trulicity) has cardioprotective properties.  Read more

Mixed Effects of Combining 2 Drugs, Canagliflozin & Liraglutide

Researchers examining the effects of combining the diabetes drugs canagliflozin, an SGLT2i, plus liraglutide, a GLP-1 RA, found that the combo was not much more effective than for lowering HBA1c than liraglutide alone, but the combo did have some weight loss benefits. Read more

How Safe is Dapagliflozin in the Elderly?

The SGLT-2 inhibitors are a relatively new treatment for type 2 diabetes, and the authors of this study felt their use had not yet been adequately studied in the elderly. They examined the effect of one SGLT-2 inhibitor, dapagliflozin (brand name Farxiga) to assess its effects on blood glucose control and kidney health in senior […]

Green Tea, Coffee Could Lengthen Your Life

Daily consumption of both green tea and coffee is linked to a lower risk of dying in people with type 2 diabetes, according to research published in the online journal BMJ Open Diabetes Research & Care. The researchers found that drinking 4 or more cups of green tea, plus 2 or more cups of coffee, […]