Diabetes

BALTIMORE -- Older and cheaper oral drugs for type 2 diabetes may be just as effective at controlling glycemia and improving lipid profiles as newer agents, suggested a systematic literature review.

BOSTON -- A lack of vitamin D and calcium in the diet may increase the risk for the metabolic syndrome and type 2 diabetes in patients with impaired glucose tolerance, nutrition researchers found.

PITTSBURGH -- The risk of developing diabetes decreased 38% among rheumatoid arthritis patients taking the antimalarial drug hydroxychloroquine (Plaqueril), according to a preliminary study.

BOSTON -- Incretin-based therapies offer an alternative to hypoglycemic agents for type 2 diabetes with little if any weight gain, a meta-analysis showed.

COVENTRY, England -- Selenium supplementation does not prevent diabetes and might actually precipitate it, a large prevention trial has suggested.

CHICAGO -- Those daily glucose-monitoring finger sticks may be overkill for many patients with type 2 diabetes, reported investigators here.

CHICAGO -- For diabetes and prediabetes screening, random plasma glucose testing alone appears to be at least as good as the full gamut of metabolic syndrome tests, and is easier and cheaper to boot, researchers found.

CHICAGO -- Now that physicians and patients are growing familiar with glycosylated hemoglobin percentages, average glucose levels are rising to the fore, investigators here reported.

CHICAGO -- Dapaglifozin, a novel investigational antidiabetic agent that increases excretion of glucose in urine, appeared safe and effective in early clinical trials, researchers reported here.

CHICAGO -- Painful neuropathy is more common with type 2 diabetes than with type 1, possibly, researchers suggest, because of a link with the metabolic syndrome.

CHICAGO -- Diabetes education, especially counseling from nutritionists, may reduce hospitalizations and lower hospital charges for urban, low-income patients, a researcher said here.

CHICAGO -- Elevated glucose levels during pregnancy appear to increase risks to mother and baby even at levels below current criteria for gestational diabetes, researchers reported here.

CHICAGO -- Statins can cut the risk of peripheral neuropathy from type 2 diabetes by a third, and fibrates can do it by nearly half, reported Australian investigators here.

CHICAGO -- Weight gain in type 1 diabetes is associated with coronary artery calcification, but, paradoxically, that may be a sign of better cardiovascular health, investigators here reported.

DENVER -- Type 2 diabetes is no longer the "adult-onset" disease it once was. More and more children with diabetes are type 2 these days, researchers found.

CHICAGO -- Umbilical cord-blood infusions may ameliorate the serious complications of type 1 diabetes, said investigators involved in early clinical trials.

CHICAGO - Type 2 diabetes patients taught to titrate their own insulin detemir (Levemir) dose may equal or exceed the results that physicians achieve, researchers said.

CHICAGO -- Lipoprotein subfraction changes may be at the root of the dyslipidemia accompanying type 2 diabetes and help explain how thiazolidinediones improve carotid intima-media thickness, researchers said here.

CHICAGO -- The prevalence of diabetes of all types in the United States has risen by about 5% annually since 1990, keeping pace with the fattening of America, reported CDC investigators.

CHICAGO -- Type 2 diabetes patients with chronic kidney disease may get at least some moderate cardiovascular risk reduction from pioglitazone (Actos), researchers found.

INDIANAPOLIS -- A pilot study suggests that patients with long-standing type 2 diabetes should be evaluated for sleep quality, and in those with sleep problems, pain should be assessed as a major contributor.

CAULFIELD, Australia -- The risk of cardiovascular mortality increases at the earliest sign of impaired glucose metabolism, researchers reported here.

ATLANTA -- Mortality rates for men with diabetes -- but not for diabetic women -- have declined in tandem with the general population's drop in cardiovascular mortality.

SEATTLE -- Real-time perfusion imaging during dobutamine stress echocardiography can identify asymptomatic diabetic patients at risk of clinical events from occult coronary artery disease, researchers found.

ROTTERDAM, The Netherlands -- Before heart disease even develops among patients with heart disease, the effects on life expectancy have already begun, found researchers here.

ROCKVILLE, Md. -- A device that measures glucose levels every five minutes over a seven-day cycle has been approved for marketing, the FDA announced.

Whether to prescribe the embattled agent is the question. What's your answer?

CHICAGO -- A annual investment in diabetes care could save as much as ,000 per patient per year over a lifetime, according to investigators here.

BOSTON -- A simple test of insulin secretion may predict which obese patients would be better off with a low-glycemic load diet than a low-fat one, researchers here found.

HELSINKI, Finland -- When babies born prematurely with a low birth weight become young adults, they are likely to have higher levels of insulin resistance, glucose intolerance, and higher blood pressure than those born at term, researchers here reported.