American Diabetes Association's 67th Annual Scientific Sessions
More than 18,000 attendees from around the world, including 14,000 professional researchers, physicians, nurses, dietitians and other diabetes care team-members, met June 22-26 for the American Diabetes Association's 67th Annual Scientific Sessions in Chicago.
"It's been a great meeting," said Linda Cann, managing director of professional education and international affairs for the American Diabetes Association.
The meeting included about 78 symposia, 50 oral sessions, 394 papers and more than 1,600 general posters. Forty-six percent of attendees were international, Cann said.
"We have millions of people with diabetes now," said Mary Ann Banerji, M.D., of SUNY Downstate Medical Center in Brooklyn, director of the Kings County Hospital Diabetes Clinic and SUNY Diabetes Treatment Center. "It's absolutely astonishing. What the meeting really does is address science from its most basic and fundamental level all the way to the epidemiology and how we translate the science into actual patient care."
Banerji said the "number one hot topic" at the meeting was Avandia. "The question is whether or not it is beneficial for diabetics with heart disease or not," Banerji said. "The conclusion is we don't know. The FDA on July 30 is having another meeting. And then we'll know all we are going to know for a good while. But I think we are not going to really have a definitive answer then. It's a very thorny subject. It's good for some people, but not for others."
In addition, data were presented on the role of sleep in diabetes. "It turns out that much of diabetes is caused by obesity, but what causes obesity besides fast food?" Banerji said. "One cause, it turns out, is lack of sleep. And we've gone from the 1960s and having eight-plus hours of sleep to the average population having six-plus hours of sleep. The business of sleep is fascinating, because when you don't get enough sleep, you get stressed, you tend to go to high-carbohydrate foods that make you feel good, and it sets up a whole cycle for obesity."
As always, nutrition and diet were important topics of discussion. In one study, a vegan meal plan improved insulin resistance in type 2 diabetics. Another suggested that drinking fructose-sweetened beverages may lead to higher levels of low-density lipoprotein cholesterol and postprandial triglycerides than glucose-sweetened drinks.
Other researchers reported that non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, one of the leading three causes of cirrhosis in America, has become common in insulin-resistant teenagers even before the development of diabetes.
"The bottom line is if you get overweight generally, you get fat under your skin, around your organs, and in your liver," Banerji noted. "And fat in your liver causes inflammation, and this may predispose you to developing cirrhosis."
In one symposium the genetics of diabetes risk were discussed. "The genetic roots are very interesting," Banerji observed. "New technologies are able to screen the human genome, and look for variations in base pairs to find genetic susceptibility factors for common diseases. They've found about seven areas they can now identify as associated with diabetes, which is very useful, because some of these things we could never have imagined being responsible for the disease at all."
There was also a presentation on the association between Alzheimer disease and diabetes. "Why is that so?" Banerji asked. "What causes the increase in dementia in people with diabetes? If you have mild dementia and have to take eight different medications, it gets very hard to remember these things."
ADA: Pre-Pregnancy Diabetes Explains Gestational Drop
WEDNESDAY, June 27 (HealthDay News) -- While the U.S. incidence of gestational diabetes declined over a seven-year period, the trend is probably due to more women being diagnosed with diabetes before becoming pregnant, according to a report presented at the 67th Scientific Sessions of the American Diabetes Association in Chicago.
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ADA: Web-Based Protocol Guides In-Hospital Insulin
TUESDAY, June 26 (HealthDay News) -- A new computer-based protocol may help hospital nurses determine the correct intravenous insulin doses for diabetics, according to research presented this week at the annual meeting of the American Diabetes Association in Chicago.
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ADA: Cord Blood May Benefit Type 1 Diabetics
TUESDAY, June 26 (HealthDay News) -- Autologous umbilical cord blood transfusion may benefit patients with type 1 diabetes, according to research presented this week at the annual meeting of the American Diabetes Association in Chicago.
Abstract - Schatz
Abstract - Haller
ADA: Diabetes Associated with Hearing Impairment
TUESDAY, June 26 (HealthDay News) -- Hearing impairment may be yet another consequence of diabetes, according to research presented this week at the annual meeting of the American Diabetes Association in Chicago. Patients with diabetes mellitus are more likely to have low-frequency and high-frequency hearing loss than non-diabetics.
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ADA: Non-Invasive Glucose Test Devices Show Promise
MONDAY, June 25 (HealthDay News) -- Two new non-invasive devices show promise as accurate indicators of blood glucose levels, according to two studies presented this week at the annual meeting of the American Diabetes Association in Chicago.
Abstract - Gabbay
Abstract - Amir
ADA: Fructose-Sweetened Drinks May Spur Atherogenesis
MONDAY, June 25 (HealthDay News) -- Overweight adults who drink fructose-sweetened beverages are more likely to have higher levels of low-density lipoprotein cholesterol and postprandial triglycerides than those who drink glucose-sweetened beverages, according to a study presented at the American Diabetes Association annual meeting in Chicago.
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ADA: Statins May Protect Against Peripheral Neuropathy
MONDAY, June 25 (HealthDay News) -- The use of statins or fibrates may help prevent peripheral neuropathy in patients with type 2 diabetes, according to research presented this week at the annual meeting of the American Diabetes Association in Chicago.
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