EARLY TREATMANT OF DIABETES URGED
Pair of physicians groups this week recommended increasingly aggressive treatment for newly diagnosed diabetes patients.
While lifestyle changes such as losing weight, exercising and watching the diet are often recommended for people with Type 2 diabetes, the new recommendations urge physicians to treat the disease aggressively early, often with two or more drugs.
The goal is to quickly get blood sugar levels as close to normal as possible, said Dr. Harold Lebovitz of SUNY Downstate Medical Center in New York.
In addition, people at high risk for
developing diabetes should be screened starting at age 30, the American
College of Endocrinology and the American Association of Clinical
Endocrinologists said. "If we don't get them diagnosed early we miss an
opportunity to prevent complications later in life," said Dr. Jaime A.
Davidson of the University of Texas Southwestern Medical School in Dallas.
Complications from diabetes can include
heart and nerve disease, eye damage and amputation of limbs. The recommendations focus largely on
Type 2 diabetes, the more common form of the illness, in which the body
either doesn't produce enough insulin, or doesn't use it correctly. Type 1
diabetes, in which the body simply doesn't produce insulin, always
requires treatment with drugs.
The groups estimate that more than 20
million Americans are diabetic, though as many as one-third don't know it.
In addition, they said 41 million are believed to have pre-diabetes, an
impaired sugar tolerance that can lead to diabetes. "The reason we are
here is because we have a lot of work to do," Davidson said in announcing
the recommendations. Source