ALEXANDRIA, VA, Apr 19, 2012 (MARKETWIRE via COMTEX) —
After several years of planning, discussion and review, new
guidelines for managing elevated blood glucose levels in people with
type 2 diabetes, developed jointly by the American Diabetes
Association and the European Association for the Study of Diabetes
(EASD), are being published concurrently in the Association’s
journal, April 19 online edition of Diabetes Care and in EASD’s
journal, Diabetologia.
The new guidelines are less prescriptive than those previously in
place, and call for a more patient-centered approach that allows for
individual patient needs, preferences and tolerances and takes into
account differences in age and disease progression. The need for a
joint task force to review and revise the guidelines was driven by
the “increasingly complex and to some extent controversial” nature of
glycemic management for type 2 diabetes, the “widening array of
pharmacological agents now available, mounting concerns about their
potential adverse effects and new uncertainties regarding the
benefits of intensive glycemic control on macrovascular
complications,” according to the joint statement.
The guidelines call for providing all patients with diabetes
education, in an individual or group setting, which focuses on
dietary intervention and the importance of increased physical
activity, as well as weight management, when appropriate. They
encourage developing individualized treatment plans built around a
patient’s specific symptoms, co-morbidities, age, weight,
racial/ethnic/gender differences and lifestyles.
Diabetes Care editor William Cefalu, MD notes in his accompanying
editorial that the subject of how to manage type 2 diabetes generates
a great deal of debate among researchers in the field, with those who
wish to use an algorithm-based management plan to provide consistent
treatment guidelines for providers on one side and those who feel
that treatment should be based on the pathophysiology, on the other.
“The most attractive aspect of the new position statement,” he
concludes, “is that more than any other previously reported
guidelines to date, it clearly emphasizes that ‘one size clearly does
not fit all.'”
Vivian Fonseca, MD, President, Medicine Science of the American
Diabetes Association, said that having a more patient-centered focus
better reflected the reality of what happens when a patient seeks
diabetes treatment. “The wide range of pharmacological choices, along
with conflicting data about some of those choices, and differences in
how patients respond to medications, makes it difficult to prescribe
a single treatment regimen based on an algorithm that is designed to
work for everyone,” he said. “What’s more, patients may not be able
to continue long-term with a treatment program that isn’t working for
them, whether it’s because of side effects from the medication,
issues of convenience or lifestyle, or even a matter of financial
resources. Diabetes is a complex disease that manifests differently
in different people and the best way for one person to manage it may
not work for someone else. If we encourage people to work with their
health care providers to find an individualized personal plan that
works well for them and fits their lifestyle and personal needs, it
has a higher chance for success in controlling glucose and decreasing
the risk of long term complications.”
Welcoming this new statement, EASD President, Prof. Andrew J.M.
Boulton underlined the importance of individualizing diabetes
treatment. Prof. Boulton commented that, “The new guidelines were
prepared using the best available evidence. Diabetes is a condition
which affects people in a multitude of ways: the new guidelines take
a more holistic approach, focusing on treating the patient as an
individual and understanding that treatments need to be ‘made to
measure,’ an approach that will likely improve not only patient care,
but also quality of life.”
Diabetes Care, published by the American Diabetes Association, is the
leading peer-reviewed journal of clinical research into one of the
nation’s leading causes of death by disease. Diabetes also is a
leading cause of heart disease and stroke, as well as the leading
cause of adult blindness, kidney failure, and non-traumatic
amputations.
The American Diabetes Association is leading the fight to Stop
Diabetes and its deadly consequences and fighting for those affected
by diabetes. The Association funds research to prevent, cure and
manage diabetes; delivers services to hundreds of communities;
provides objective and credible information; and gives voice to those
denied their rights because of diabetes. Founded in 1940, our mission
is to prevent and cure diabetes and to improve the lives of all
people affected by diabetes. For more information please call the
American Diabetes Association at 1-800-DIABETES (1-800-342-2383) or
visit
www.diabetes.org . Information from both these sources is
available in English and Spanish.
Contact:
Colleen Fogarty
American Diabetes Association
(703) 549-1500 ext. 2146
SOURCE: American Diabetes Association
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