45% Increase in Diabetes Preevalence in Past 20 Years

diabetes-care

A new study has based on surveillance data has reported that the prevalence of diabetes among US adults grew by 45% over the past 20 years.

The study has been published online May 1 in Diabetes Care.

This study included 22,586 adults sampled in three periods of the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey  from 3 periods:

  • 1988 – 1994 (7950 participants).
  • 1999 – 2004 (6756 participants).
  • 2005 – 2010 (7880 participants).

Diabetes was defined as having self-reported diagnosed diabetes or having a fasting plasma glucose level ≥126 mg/dL or HbA1c ≥6.5% (48 mmol/mol).

The researchers looked at the prevalence of diabetes as well as body mass index (BMI), waist-to-hip ratio, waist circumference, and other measures in 3 age groups:

  • Younger adults (aged 20 to 34).
  • Middle-aged adults (aged 35 to 64).
  • Older adults (aged 65 and older).

 

The authors found that number of adults with diabetes increased by 75% from 1988–1994 to 2005–2010 and  the prevalence of diabetes increased over the two decades across all age-groups.

Younger adults had the lowest absolute increase in diabetes prevalence of 1.0%, followed by middle-aged adults (2.7%) and older adults (10.0%).

The authors concluded that during the past two decades, the prevalence of diabetes increased across all age-groups, but adults ≥65 years of age experienced the largest increase in absolute change.

Obesity was strongly associated with the increase in diabetes prevalence, especially in adults <65.
The limitation of the study was study were

  • Cross-sectional study
  • Did not distinguish between type 1 and type 2 diabetes
  •  One time measurement to establish undiagnosed diabetes.

Source

  • Diabetes Care. Published online May 1, 2013. Abstract

Patients with Diabetic Nephropathy & Microalbuminuria Show Fastest Reduction in Glomerular Filtration Rate

diabetes-care

A study from Japan has reported the having diabetic retinopathy and/or microalbuminuria predicted a much higher rate of annual decline in glomerular filtration rate.

The study is based on data from the Japan Diabetes Complications Study and was published online April 25 in Diabetes Care.

Diabetic retinopathy is a known risk factor for microalbuminuria, and microalbuminuria is a risk factor for macroalbuminuria, but authors wanted to find if  diabetic retinopathy predicts poor renal function.diabetes-care

For the study, 1475 patients in the Japan Diabetes Complications Study were divided into 4 groups: [Read more...]

Obese Twenties May Not Reach Middle Age

medcare-default

A new research published in online journal BMJ open has reported that young men who are obese in their early 20s are significantly more likely to develop serious ill health by the time they reach middle age, or not even make it that far.

For the study, the authors tracked the health of 6500 Danish 22 year old men, all born in 1955, for 33 years up to the age of 55. [Read more...]

31% Doctors USe Smartphones To Make Treatment Decisions

smartphone physiaican surveyr

According to a March 2013 survey conducted by ad agency WPP’s Kantar Media done on more than 3,000 physicians representing 21 specialties found that 74 percent said they were using their smartphones for professional purposes.

The 2012 study found that about 68 percent of physicians were using their smartphones at work and 64 percent were in 2011.
smartphone physiaican surveyr
About 38 percent of those physicians surveyed said they use both their smartphone and tablet for their jobs, too.

Kantar found that 43 percent of all physicians surveyed reported that they look up reference drug data on their smartphones, which marks a 13 percent increase over last year’s survey results. The survey also found that 39 percent of all physicians surveyed said they use their smartphones to find and perform clinical calculations, which marked a 4 percent increase over last year. Finally, about 31 percent of all physicians said they made prescribing decisions from their smartphones, up from about 21 percent last year.

Source

Mobihealth

New Guidelines :Screening Recommended For All Patients Between 15-65 – US Preventive Services Task Force

HIV test

In a recent study published on April 30 in the Annals of Internal Medicine US preventive Services Task Force has recommended that all the patients between age 15 to 65 years should be screened for HIV as it would substantially decrease the HIV disease burden across the country.

This recommendation would also dramatically reduce transmission of the virus, and markedly curtail infected patients’ progression to AIDS and death.

In 2005, screening of only at risk patients were recommended. [Read more...]

Anemia is Most Common Side Effect of Hepatitis C Virus Antivirals

anemia

Anemia most significant adverse effect of HCV antiviral drugs boceprevir and telaprevir. This has been reported by researchers who studies the outcome in 1400 patients.

Triple therapy with one of these drugs plus ribavirin and pegylated interferon is now the standard of care for HCV genotype 1.

Of the 1,082 patients in the study taking telaprevir, 27 showed severe anemia, compared with five patients developing severe rash.

Among 344 patients on boceprevir, six developed severe anemia. [Read more...]

Abuse, Neglect and Overprotection of Children May Result in Bullying Risk

parenting

A meta-analysis of 70 studies of more than 200,000 children has reported that children who are exposed to negative parenting – including abuse, neglect but also overprotection – are more likely to experience childhood bullying by their peers.

parenting

The research, led by the University of Warwick and published in the journal Child Abuse & Neglect, found the effects of poor parenting were stronger for children who are both a victim and perpetrator of bulling (bully-victims) than children who were solely victims.

It found that negative or harsh parenting was linked to a moderate increase in the risk of being a ‘bully-victim’ and a small increase in the risk of being a victim of bullying. In contrast, warm but firm parenting reduced the risk of being bullied by peers.

 

The study categorised behaviours such as abuse/neglect, maladaptive parenting and overprotection as negative parenting behaviour.

It categorised authoritative parenting, parent-child communication, parental involvement and support, supervision and warmth and affection as positive parenting behaviours.

Source

  1. Science Daily

Photo: Morgue File

Risk of Celiac Disease Increases in Children With Early Infections

children

According a new study, published in Biomedcentral Pediatrics, infections in children younger than 2 years may be linked to an increased risk for celiac disease.

The study by Anna Myleus and colleagues has been published in the December 2012 issue of Biomedcentral Pediatrics.

The authors also reported a synergistic effect between early infections and daily amount of gluten intake.

Celiac disease is a chronic small intestinal immune-mediated enteropathy which is precipitated by exposure to dietary gluten in genetically predisposed individuals.

The authors reported that Sweden has experienced an “epidemic” of celiac disease in children below two years of age. [Read more...]

Obesity Decreases in Preschool Children

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A new data from centers for Centers for Disease Control and Prevention show that obesity in low income preschool children has decreased over last decade.

Though the decrease is only slight, the researchers say it is quite encouraging.

Read full story here

FDA Warns – Telaprevir, a Drug for Hepatitis C May Cause Serious Skin Reactions

medcare-default

In a warning issued yesterday, FDA has says that drug telaprevir which is used in combination with Peginterferon Alfa and Ribavirin may cause serious and potentially fatal skin reactions.

Patients must stop taking telaprevir along with its partner drugs peginterferon and ribavirin if they experience a serious skin reaction, particularly a rash with systemic symptoms, or a progressive severe rash.

The pharmaceutical company has been asked to put a warning label mentioning the potential risks.

The boxed warning states that patients receiving telaprevir in combination treatment have experienced skins reactions that include Stevens-Johnson syndrome, drug reaction with eosinophilia and systemic symptoms, and toxic epidermal necrolysis. The fatal cases occurred in patients who continued to take the drug after developing a progressive rash and systemic symptoms. [Read more...]