Diabetes & Endocrinology News

• Statins Again Linked to Lower COVID-19 Mortality Although it's observational, "I would say this is the most reliable study on statins in COVID-19 to date, with the results adjusted for many confounders, including socioeconomic factors...."
  Medscape Medical News, July 23, 2021
• Dapagliflozin Safe, Protective in Advanced Kidney Disease 'For clinicians, this is now the absolute reassurance that we do not have to stop an SGLT2 inhibitor' in patients with advanced kidney disease, said Dr Chantal Mathieu, about the DAPA-CKD trial.
  Medscape Medical News, July 23, 2021
• CLARIFY Confirms Meds, Watchful Waiting in Angina, Stable CAD Few cardiovascular events and favorable evolution of angina in most patients allows for a watchful waiting strategy before failure of medical management is declared, the authors say.
  Medscape Medical News, July 23, 2021
• Alert FDA OKs Extended-Release Exenatide for Children With T2D This injectable medication is the second GLP-1 receptor agonist approved for pediatric type 2 diabetes, and the first with once-weekly administration.
  FDA Approvals, July 23, 2021
• BMI Association With Diabetes Risk Varies Across Low- and Middle-Income Countries The optimal BMI threshold for diabetes screening may vary across low- and middle-income countries, results from a new study of the association between BMI and diabetes suggest.
  Reuters Health Information, July 22, 2021
• Medicare Struggles to Expand Diabetes Prevention Program Critics say participation is low because of the way Medicare set up the program. Now, CMS has proposed to address some of those problems in a rule change. Will it be enough to increase participation?
  Kaiser Health News, July 22, 2021
• Weak Evidence for Weight Loss in the 'Wild West' of Supplements Most of the randomized controlled trials of dietary supplements for weight loss failed to show efficacy of the product tested.
  Medscape Medical News, July 21, 2021
• Alert FDA OKs Spinal Cord Stimulation for Diabetic Neuropathy Pain The approval is specific for the treatment of chronic pain associated with painful diabetic neuropathy in those whose pain is refractory or who can't tolerate medical treatment.
  FDA Approvals, July 21, 2021
• Living with Obesity? Get Your COVID Vaccine Now, Experts Say Rates of vaccination against COVID-19 are lowest in states with a high prevalence of obesity, say experts in the field, as they urge their patients to take any of the approved COVID-19 vaccines.
  WebMD Health News, July 21, 2021
• Analysis Supports CAC for Personalizing Statin Use In patients with intermediate risk of atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease along with risk-enhancing factors, coronary artery calcium scoring may help calculate their need for statin therapy.
  Medscape Medical News, July 21, 2021
• FDA to Revise Statin Pregnancy Contraindication The changes emphasize that 'statins are safe to prescribe in patients who can become pregnant' and reassure women that harm is unlikely from unintended statin exposure in early pregnancy.
  News Alerts, July 20, 2021
• AHA Concerned, Others Pleased by Price Transparency Penalty Hike CMS intends to raise the stakes to compel compliance with a mandate for disclosure of hospital prices, with a proposed annual penalty of as much as $2 million for larger organizations.
  Medscape Medical News, July 20, 2021
• Cycling Linked to Longer Life in People With Type 2 Diabetes The mental, physical, and environmental benefits of bicycle riding may help people with diabetes live longer, and will 'almost surely generalize to persons without diabetes.'
  Medscape Medical News, July 20, 2021
• 5G Network Enables Remote Laser Treatment of Diabetic Retinopathy The enhanced telemedicine capacity of the 5G high-speed wireless system has allowed remote real-time retinal laser telephotocoagulation in patients with diabetic retinopathy, according to a study conducted in China.
  Reuters Health Information, July 16, 2021
• Physicians Turning to Side Gigs for Extra Pay Nearly 4 in 10 doctors currently pursue another source of income in addition to medicine. A new survey explores what they are doing, how much they earn, and why they do it.
  Medscape Medical News, July 19, 2021
• Cancer Drug May Slow Course of Type 1 Diabetes The tyrosine-kinase inhibitor imatinib used to treat chronic myeloid leukemia and other cancers may help preserve beta-cell function in people with recently diagnosed type 1 diabetes, according to findings from a phase 2 study.
  Reuters Health Information, July 16, 2021
• High Medicaid Claims Denial Affecting Doc Participation: Study Physicians are less likely to take Medicaid patients in states where they lose a higher portion of potential revenue because of denials and billing costs.
  Medscape Medical News, July 19, 2021
• Nephrologist's Appeal to End 3-Year Suspension Is Denied Allegations include that Albert Kadri, MD, failed to comply with a new model of kidney care at Windsor Regional Hospital, in Ontario, Canada, and his actions were 'likely to expose patients to harm.'
  Medscape Medical News, July 19, 2021
• Is Aspirin Overused in Older Patients With Diabetes? A study of trends in aspirin use in older US adults finds those with diabetes are twice as likely to use aspirin for primary prevention as those without diabetes; many patients might now need review.
  Medscape Medical News, July 16, 2021
• FDA Panel Rejects Roxadustat for Anemia in Kidney Disease An FDA advisory committee voted by 1-13 and 2-12 margins against approving a novel, oral agent, roxadustat, for treating anemia in patients with chronic kidney disease. Safety was the major issue.
  Medscape Medical News, July 16, 2021