Diet plays an important role in the treatment of diabetes, alone or in combination with insulin or oral hypoglycemic drugs. The diabetic nutrition plan of an individual necessitates to be based upon, excepting the usual parameters, his/her socioeconomic status, ethnicity/religion, and local food habits. It is important that diet plan is individualized and also region based. Since there are a number of artificial sweeteners available now, it is necessary that physicians should take in account scientific data while prescribing any artificial sweetener. This issue in the ECAB Update Series: Diabetology reviews these issues in accordance with the Indian Dietary habits and available evidence to support the clinical decisions.
Decision making in instituting insulin therapy is an important aspect of diabetes management. The appropriate insulin regimen for an individual patient should take into account the patient’s lifestyle, age, motivation, general health, self-management skills, and treatment goals. In addition, a discussion of the newer insulins versus older insulin is a much desired topic in the Indian context. Another area of interest is the insulin delivery mechanism in the intensive care units in hospital settings. This CME module is designed to address such questions with supportive typical clinical scenarios, with which all readers will be able to identify. Thus it provides an excellent opportunity to widen one’s perspective in this area.
Diabetes is one of the most important non-communicable lifestyle diseases. Diabetes is a multifaceted disorder which possibly influences and impacts body pathophysiology by different mechanisms and in varied ways. Diabetes has a very distinguished impact on cardiovascular system and plays a detrimental role in development of cardiovascular disorders. Metabolic memory is used to describe the impact of exposure to glucotoxicity, lipotoxicity and other metabolic disturbances, either as an adverse or a beneficial cell response which determines the later development of vascular complications. Terms such as metabolic imprint, legacy effect, glycemic memory or latent hyperglycemic damage are also used. Diabetes has significant impact on different facets of life. Diabetes has a distinguished but significant impact on development of various cancers. Diabetes has a positive, negative and even neutral impact on pathogenesis and progression of cancer depending upon the tumor site. On the contrary, cancer also has a significant effect on diabetes development and management. These facets tend to get overlooked in the study of diabetes development and management. All these aspects are being thoroughly covered in this project so as to facilitate better management of diabetics.
Diabetes management, outcomes and prognosis are majorly affected by the lifestyle exercised by the diabetics. Diabetes has significant impact on the different facets of life. These facets tend to get overlooked in the management. The inter-relation of diabetes and marriage, sleep, travel, commute and uneven working hours seem to be trivial part of managing diabetes but are extremely important for a perfect recovery and management of the patient. Patients travelling with diabetes need to consider how to adapt their treatment programs to unfamiliar foods, irregular schedules, and varying amounts of exercise. Diabetes will be involved at every step of married life including vacations, outings, going to the movies, as well as intimate moments. Sleep and diabetes are interconnected. Sleep disorders have a slight but significant impact on diabetes management and it should be focused while attending a diabetic with sleep disorders. Shift workers make a special segment of diabetics, whose glucose monitoring and control need to be tailored in a special manner. With change in circadian rhythm and sleep pattern, diabetes management needs to be adjudged and adjusted. The main risks that arise in driving from having diabetes are hypoglycemia and the long term complications. All these aspects are being thoroughly covered in this book so as to facilitate better management of diabetes.
Of all lower extremity amputations, 40–70% are related to diabetes. In most studies, the incidence of lower leg amputation is estimated to be 5–25/100,000 inhabitants/year: among people with diabetes the number is 6–8/1,000. Lower extremity amputations are usually preceded by a foot ulcer in people with diabetes. The most important factors related to the development of these ulcers are peripheral neuropathy, foot deformities, minor foot trauma, and peripheral vascular disease. The spectrum of foot lesions varies in different regions of the world due to differences in socioeconomic conditions, standards of foot care and quality of footwear. This clinical update is designed to address this condition in a comprehensive way to help the reader take important questions while managing the patient with supportive typical clinical scenarios, with which all readers will be able to identify. Thus it provides an excellent opportunity to widen one’s perspective in this area.
The pathogenesis of microvascular complications is complex and multifactorial. Yet, hyperglycemia emerges as the most important single cause, which has been proved by the Diabetes Control and Complications Trial (DCCT). Thus, the importance of protecting the body from hyperglycemia cannot be overstated; the direct and indirect effects on the human vascular tree are the major source of morbidity and mortality in both type 1 and type 2 diabetes. Generally, the injurious effects of hyperglycemia are separated into macrovascular complications (coronary artery disease, peripheral arterial disease, and stroke) and microvascular complications (diabetic nephropathy, neuropathy, and retinopathy). It is important for physicians to understand the relationship between diabetes and vascular disease because the prevalence of diabetes continues to increase in our country, and the clinical requirements for primary and secondary prevention of these complications are also expanding.
The insulin resistance syndrome can be defined as insulin resistance, compensatory hyperinsulinemia, and their associated co-morbidities. Clinically, the term insulin resistance syndrome describes a constellation of abnormalities such as obesity, hypertension, dyslipidemia, type 2 diabetes/hyperglycemia, and coronary artery disease. Insulin is responsible for glucose uptake into the body cells and tissues. The response of the cells to insulin varies from individual to individual. In some individuals, the tissue response to insulin may be diminished. This means that even with adequate levels of insulin, the glucose uptake into the cells and tissues is not optimal. This results in a compensatory over-secretion of insulin from the pancreas. The persistence of high levels of insulin in the blood or hyperinsulinemia is thought to be responsible for some of the abnormalities associated with this condition. However, the exact causal association of the condition with these disorders and the pathophysiology of their evolution are unclear. The most common underlying mechanism proposed is increased free fatty acids from abdominal fat in individuals with central obesity. This leads to deranged insulin signaling, reduced muscular glucose uptake, increased triglyceride synthesis, and hepatic gluconeogenesis. A genetic basis of the disease as well as several other factors such as tumor necrosis factor-a, adiponectin, leptin, Interleukin-6, and some adipokines have also been implicated. Insulin resistance syndrome is of clinical significance because of its association with potentially debilitating conditions that contribute to long-term morbidity and even mortality of the individual. People with insulin resistance syndrome are at an increased risk of developing type 2 diabetes, hypertension, dyslipidemia, myocardial infarction, polycystic ovarian disease, and fatty liver. In this book, we have tried to collate the experiences of the pioneers of this field on the subject and provide the reader a comprehensive view on the topic along with practical management points, which we are sure will benefit the physicians in their clinical practice. The contributors have focused on the condition as is prevalent in our subcontinent and have tried to give an insight on the issues pertaining to the same with a topical flavor.
Diabetes is a chronic disease that is reaching an epidemic proportion in many parts of the world. Despite the high incidence of diabetes, individuals diagnosed with the disorder are only 50%. The main challenge of medical professionals in diagnosing and treating the diabetic patients is the lack of understanding of the disease, which usually leads to problems with treatment compliance and monitoring. There is strong evidence to show that an effective intensive glycemic control reduces various microvascular and neuropathic complications of diabetes mellitus. The Diabetes Control and Complications Trial (DCCT) showed that the intensive glycemic control prevented diabetic complications in type 1 diabetic patients, and the HbA1c levels reduced by 1.5–2.0%. In the UKPDS study, a modest improvement in HbA1c (a difference of 0.9 %) in the intensively treated group than in the control group brought about a 25% reduction in microvascular complications and a 12% reduction in all diabetes related events. There are several methods with differing utilities and limitations existing for monitoring glycemic status in individuals. Diabetes care in India leaves much to be desired and suggested, and there is a need for efforts to increase awareness of both the patients and the doctors for better treatment and monitoring.
