Diabetes Research Presented at National Conference

California Healthline highlights a number of studies presented at the American Diabetes Association conference in Washington, D.C. Summaries appear below.

Critical Illnesses: Elevated blood-glucose levels increase the risk of death for critically ill patients, particularly those with cardiovascular conditions, according to a study by researchers at the Cincinnati Veterans Affairs Medical Center, the AP/Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports. Researchers studied medical records for 216,000 patients admitted to 177 Veterans Affairs ICUs. Higher blood-glucose levels were linked with an increased risk of death, especially for patients who had strokes, heart attacks and other cardiovascular conditions. Patients who had strokes along with elevated blood-glucose levels had a mortality rate between 3.4 and 15 times higher than expected. Researchers found that mortality rates were impacted even when blood-glucose levels were only one point higher than normal (AP/Atlanta Journal-Constitution, 6/13).

Pre-diabetes: People with pre-diabetes, who have elevated blood-glucose levels that do not meet the threshold of diabetes, have more risk factors for heart disease -- including high blood pressure, obesity and high cholesterol -- than people with normal blood-glucose levels, according to a CDC study, USA Today reports. Michael Englegau, acting director of CDC's Division of Diabetes Translation, said elevated blood-glucose levels should lead physicians to test for heart disease risks and vice versa.
Weight loss: An 18-year old who is very obese has a three-in-four chance of developing diabetes in his or her lifetime, while an 18-year old with normal weight has about one-in-five or one-in-six chance of developing the disease, according to a CDC study, USA Today reports. For the study, CDC examined National Health Interview Survey information from 1997 to 2004 on more than 800,000 healthy adults (Manning, USA Today, 6/13).

Broadcast Coverage

NBC's "Nightly News" on Monday reported on the growing number of U.S. residents with type 2 diabetes. The segment includes comments from Robin Goland, director of the Naomi Berrie Diabetes Center at Columbia University Medical Center, and a U.S. resident diagnosed with type 2 diabetes (Bazell, "Nightly News," NBC, 6/12).

A transcript of the segment is available online. The complete segment is available online in Windows Media.

This is part of the California Healthline Daily Edition, a summary of health policy coverage from major news organizations. Sign up for an email subscription.