Type 2 diabetes screening: Reduction in CVD and mortality

Screening for type 2 diabetes could offer substantial health benefits over and above metabolic improvement, a team of UK and US researchers has found. 

The findings published in Diabetes Care are part of analyses of data from the ADDITION-Europe study. Early treatment following screening led to reduced risk of cardiovascular disease or death within a 5-year follow-up period compared to no screening.

Lead author Professor William Herman, University of Michigan, said: “This research shows that the early identification of diabetes has major health benefits, and supports the introduction of measures such as screening to reduce the time between development of type 2 diabetes and its treatment.”

– Nursing Times, 19 May 2015

Night owls more likely to develop diabetes
Night owls are more likely to develop type 2 diabetes than early risers, a study from a team in South Korea has found. Night owls tend to have poor quality of sleep, experience sleep loss and may eat at inappropriate times, which can lead to metabolic change and development of type 2 diabetes.

Night owls tended to have more unhealthy behaviours such as smoking, late-night eating and a sedentary lifestyle, known risk factors for type 2 diabetes, and they were also were more likely to have sarcopenia than early risers. Interestingly, however, night owls tend to be younger.

– The Telegraph, 1 April 2015

Stress: A risk factor for childhood T1D?
Experiencing serious stress from a major traumatic event in the first 14 years of life can increase the risk of developing type 1 diabetes three-fold, a Swedish study has found.

The authors looked at family conflicts, unemployment problems and other family experiences and found events such as illness, death or family break-up could triple the risk of type 1 diabetes.

More than 10 000 families who had children aged between 2 and 14 years were included in the study, and 58 children were subsequently diagnosed with type 1 diabetes.

It is believed that stressful life events could contribute to beta-cell stress due to increased insulin resistance and increased insulin demand, which occur as part of the stress response.

– The Guardian, 9 April 2015

Vegan diet to alleviate neuropathy?
A low-fat vegan diet may help people with type 2 diabetes reduce physical pain related to diabetes a small study from the US suggests. 

A group of 35 adults with type 2 diabetes and peripheral diabetic neuropathy were split in half and randomly assigned to follow a low-fat vegan diet and B12 supplements with weekly support groups, or to maintain their normal diet but take B12 supplements.

After 20 weeks, those on the vegan diet reported a greater drop in pain and tests of the nerves in the foot also suggested that the vegan diet may have slowed or halted nerve function decline compared to the control group. The vegan diet group also displayed improvements in other clinical measures and lost on average approximately 6.8 kg versus 45 g in the control group.

– Reuters, 29 May 2015

World first: Natural birth to mum using artificial pancreas technology
A woman in Norfolk has become the first in the world to give birth naturally while using artificial pancreas technology.

A baby boy was born to Catriona Finlayson-Wilkins, of Norfolk, in April at Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital. Ms Finlayson-Wilkins has type 1 diabetes and used an artificial pancreas to deliver insulin throughout the duration of her pregnancy to become the first woman in the world to give birth naturally with the use of the technology.

She is also the first mother using the device to give birth outside the main research site at Cambridge University Hospitals. 

Prior to this birth, there have been three other births using artificial pancreas technology, which have been delivered by caesarian section. Dr Helen Murphy, the principal investigator of the study in which Ms Finlayson-Wilkins participated, said that the new arrival represented an exciting step forward in the treatment of diabetes in pregnancy.  

– BBC News, 30 April 2015