Technological Advancements in the Management of Type 2 Diabetes

The National Clinical Care Commission Report to Congress: Leveraging Federal Policies and Programs to Improve Diabetes Treatment and Reduce Complications

The Treatment and Complications subcommittee of the National Clinical Care Commission focused on factors likely to improve the delivery of high-quality care to all people with diabetes. The gap between available resources and the needs of people living with diabetes adversely impacts both treatment and outcomes. The Commission's recommendations are designed to bridge this gap. At the patient level, the Commission recommends reducing barriers and streamlining administrative processes to improve access to diabetes self-management training, diabetes devices, virtual care, and insulin. At the practice level, we recommend enhancing programs that support team-based care and developing capacity to support technology-enabled mentoring interventions. At the health system level, we recommend that the Department of Health and Human Services routinely assess the needs of the health care workforce and ensure funding of training programs directed to meet those needs. At the health policy level, we recommend establishing a process to identify and ensure pre-deductible insurance coverage for high-value diabetes treatments and services and developing a quality measure that reduces risk of hypoglycemia and enhances patient safety. We also identified several areas that need additional research, such as studying the barriers to uptake of diabetes self-management education and support, exploring methods to implement team-based care, and evaluating the importance of digital connectivity as a social determinant of health. The Commission strongly encourages Congress, the Department of Health and Human Services, and other federal departments and agencies to take swift action to implement these recommendations to improve health outcomes and quality of life among people living with diabetes.

Short-term removal of exercise impairs glycemic control in older adults: A randomized trial

Postprandial glycemia (PPG) predicts cardiovascular disease, and short-term physical inactivity increases PPG in young, active adults. Whether this occurs in older, active adults who may be more prone to bouts of inactivity is unknown. This study determined if postprandial interstitial glucose (PPIG) was impaired in active older adults following the removal of exercise for 3 days (NOEX) compared to active young adults. In this randomized, crossover study, 11 older (69.1 ± 1.9 years) and 9 young (32.8 ± 1.8 years) habitually active (≥90 min/week of exercise) adults completed 3-days of NOEX and 3-days of normal habitual exercise (EX), separated by ≥1 week. Diet was standardized across phases. Glycemic control (3-day average) was assessed via continuous glucose monitoring during both phases. Significant main effects of age and phase were detected (p < 0.05), but no interaction was found for steps/day (p > 0.05) (old EX: 6283 ± 607, old NOEX: 2380 ± 382 and young EX: 8798 ± 623, young NOEX: 4075 ± 516 steps/day). Significant main effects of age (p = 0.002) and time (p < 0.001) existed for 1-h PPIG, but no effect of phase or interactions was found (p > 0.05). Significant main effects (p < 0.05) of age (old: 114 ± 1 mg/dl, young: 106 ± 1 mg/dl), phase (NOEX: 112 ± 1 mg/dl, EX: 108 ± 1 mg/dl), and time (0 min: 100 ± 2, 30 min: 118 ± 2, 60 min: 116 ± 2, 90 min: 111 ± 2, 120 min: 108 ± 2 mg/dl) in 2-h PPIG were detected, but no interaction was found (p > 0.05). However, only significant main effects of phase (NOEX: 14 ± 1 and EX:12 ± 1, p > 0.05) were found for 24-h blood glucose standard deviation. Older adults appear to have impaired glycemic control compared to young adults and exercise removal impairs glycemic control in both populations. Yet, the impairment in glycemic control with exercise removal is not different between old and young adults.

Impact of short-term glycemic variability on risk of all-cause mortality in type 2 diabetes patients with well-controlled glucose profile by continuous glucose monitoring: A prospective cohort study

AIMS

To investigate the association between short-term glycemic variability (GV) and all-cause mortality in type 2 diabetes with well-controlled glucose profile by continuous glucose monitoring (CGM).

METHODS

In this prospective study, 1839 diabetes patients who reached percentage of time in the target glucose range of 3.9-10 mmol/L > 70%, percentage of time above range of 10 mmol/L < 25% and percentage of time below range of 3.9 mmol/L < 4% on CGM were enrolled and were classified into five groups by coefficient of variation for glucose (%CV) level: ≤20%, 20-25%, 25-30%, 30-35%, and > 35%. Cox proportional hazard models were used to estimate hazard ratios (HRs) of all-cause mortality risk associated with the different %CV categories.

RESULTS

At baseline, participants had mean age of 60.9 years and mean HbA_1c of 7.3% (56 mmol/mol). A total of 165 deaths were identified during a median follow-up of 6.9 years. In multivariate Cox regression analysis, HRs associated with %CV categories were 1.00, 1.16 (95% CI 0.78-1.73), 1.38 (95% CI 0.89-2.15), 1.33 (95% CI 0.77-2.29) and 2.26 (95% CI 1.13-4.52) for all-cause mortality.

CONCLUSIONS

Greater %CV was associated with increased risk for all-cause mortality even among patients with seemingly well-controlled glucose status.

Evaluation of the Clinical Efficacy of the Treatment of Overweight and Obesity in Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus by the Telemedicine Management System Based on the Internet of Things Technology

Objective

To explore the application value of medical intelligent electronic system under the background of Internet of Things in the clinical study of the treatment of overweight/obesity in type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) with empagliflozin combined with liraglutide; 50 overweight and obese adult T2DM patients in our hospital were randomly divided into the combined group and the control group, 25 cases in each group. The control group was treated with liraglutide alone, while the combined group was treated with empagliflozin on the basis of liraglutide. Based on the Internet of Things technology, with diabetes management as the core, the functions of information collection, transmission, and storage of T2DM patients are realized. Doctors pass the diabetes management plan to T2DM patients through the platform, supervise the implementation, and finally compare the clinical efficacy of the two groups.

Results

Compared with before treatment, the body mass index (BMI), fasting blood glucose (FPG), postprandial blood glucose (2hPG), glycosylated hemoglobin (HbAlc), islet beta cell secretion function index (HOMA-β), islet resistance index (HOMA-IR), total cholesterol (TC), and triglyceride (TG) in both groups decreased significantly after treatment. After combined treatment, systolic blood pressure (SBP), diastolic blood pressure (DBP), FPG, 2hPG, HbA1c, and HOMA-IR in the combined group were significantly lower than those in the control group (P < 0.05). Hypoglycemia occurred in both groups, with 2 cases in the control group and 4 cases in the combined group.

Conclusion

The telemedicine management system based on Internet of Things technology can improve patients' self-management ability and provide a new choice for individualized treatment of overweight/obesity T2DM patients. The combination therapy of empagliflozin and liraglutide can effectively reduce blood sugar, weight, blood pressure, blood lipid, and hypoglycemia and effectively improve insulin resistance and secretion function of islet β cells in T2DM patients.

Patch Pumps: What are the advantages for people with diabetes?

AIM

Patch pumps, i.e. insulin pumps without tubing, are an attractive alternative to conventional insulin pumps for people with type 1 diabetes and type 2 diabetes on insulin therapy. In this review, potential patient-relevant advantages and disadvantages of patch pumps are summarized and respective studies on patient-reported outcomes (PROs) are assessed.

METHODS

Relevant studies were identified through a systematic PubMed search. Reference lists in respective articles and Google Scholar were also checked for additional references. Articles in English published before June 30, 2021, were included; no other criteria on publication dates were set.

RESULTS

A total of 12 studies were included. The results of this analysis provide evidence that patch pumps improve quality of life, reduce diabetes-related distress, increase patient satisfaction, and are preferred by patients compared to conventional insulin pumps and multiple daily injection therapy (MDI). However, several methodological limitations of the studies identified constrain the significance of this analysis.

CONCLUSIONS

Despite the limited number of studies evaluating the benefits of patch pumps on PROs, there is increasing evidence that people with diabetes prefer patch pumps. Although there are numerous PROs for patch pumps, it is surprising that this aspect has been relatively understudied. More systematic evaluation studies of the benefits of patch pumps on PROs are needed.

Gypenoside A attenuates dysfunction of pancreatic β cells by activating PDX1 signal transduction via the inhibition of miR-150-3p both in vivo and in vitro

Saponin gypenoside A (GP) has shown its potential to handle diabetes mellitus. MicroRNA-150-3p (miR-150-3p) is closely related to the dysfunction of pancreatic β cells by targeting PDX1. Given the function of GP is related to its regulation on different miRs, the current study assessed the role of miR-150-3p as a therapeutic target for the hypoglycemic effects of GP. Pancreatic β cell dysfunction was induced in mice using the high-fatty diet (HFD) method and then handled with GP. Changes in insulin release and resistance and the activity of the miR-150-3p/PDX1 axis were detected. The expression of miR-150-3p was induced to confirm its central in the effects of GP. The results of in vivo tests were then validated with in vitro assays. HFD administration suppressed glucose tolerance, delayed insulin release, and induced insulin resistance and pancreas apoptosis in mice, which was indicative of the dysfunction of β pancreatic cells. Changes in pancreatic β function were associated with the increased expression of miR-150-3p and suppressed expression of PDX1. After the administration of GP, the impairments of the pancreas were alleviated and the expression of miR-150-3p was inhibited, contributing to the restored level of PDX1. The injection of miR-150-3p agomir counteracted the protective effects of GP. In in vitro assays, the pretransfection of miR-150-3p mimetics also counteracted the protective effects of GP on pancreatic β cells against palmitic acid. Collectively, miR-150-3p played a key role in the protective effects of GP against pancreatic β cell dysfunction by inhibiting PDX1 expression.

Associations of hypoglycemia, glycemic variability and risk of cardiac arrhythmias in insulin-treated patients with type 2 diabetes: a prospective, observational study

Background

Insulin-treated patients with type 2 diabetes (T2D) are at risk of hypoglycemia, which is associated with an increased risk of cardiovascular disease and mortality. Using a long-term monitoring approach, we investigated the association between episodes of hypoglycemia, glycemic variability and cardiac arrhythmias in a real-life setting.

Methods

Insulin-treated patients with T2D (N = 21, [mean ± SD] age 66.8 ± 9.6 years, BMI 30.1 ± 4.5 kg/m², HbA1c 6.8 ± 0.4% [51.0 ± 4.8 mmol/mol]) were included for a one-year observational study. Patients were monitored with continuous glucose monitoring ([mean ± SD] 118 ± 6 days) and an implantable cardiac monitor (ICM) during the study period.

Results

Time spend in hypoglycemia was higher during nighttime than during daytime ([median and interquartile range] 0.7% [0.7–2.7] vs. 0.4% [0.2–0.8]). The ICMs detected 724 episodes of potentially clinically significant arrhythmias in 12 (57%) participants, with atrial fibrillation and pauses accounting for 99% of the episodes. No association between hypoglycemia and cardiac arrhythmia was found during daytime. During nighttime, subject-specific hourly incidence of cardiac arrhythmias tended to increase with the occurrence of hypoglycemia (incident rate ratio [IRR] 1.70 [95% CI 0.36–8.01]) but only slightly with increasing time in hypoglycemia (IRR 1.04 [95% CI 0.89–1.22] per 5 min). Subject-specific incidence of cardiac arrhythmias during nighttime increased with increasing glycemic variability as estimated by coefficient of variation whereas it decreased during daytime (IRR 1.33 [95% CI 1.05–1.67] and IRR 0.77 [95% CI 0.59–0.99] per 5% absolute increase, respectively).

Conclusions

Cardiac arrhythmias were common in insulin-treated patients with T2D and were associated with glycemic variability, whereas arrhythmias were not strongly associated with hypoglycemia.

Trial registration: NCT03150030, ClinicalTrials.gov, registered May 11, 2017. https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT03150030

Supplementary Information

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12933-021-01425-0.

'Smart' insulin-delivery technologies and intrinsic glucose-responsive insulin analogues

Insulin replacement therapy for diabetes mellitus seeks to minimise excursions in blood glucose concentration above or below the therapeutic range (hyper- or hypoglycaemia). To mitigate acute and chronic risks of such excursions, glucose-responsive insulin-delivery technologies have long been sought for clinical application in type 1 and long-standing type 2 diabetes mellitus. Such 'smart' systems or insulin analogues seek to provide hormonal activity proportional to blood glucose levels without external monitoring. This review highlights three broad strategies to co-optimise mean glycaemic control and time in range: (1) coupling of continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) to delivery devices (algorithm-based 'closed-loop' systems); (2) glucose-responsive polymer encapsulation of insulin; and (3) mechanism-based hormone modifications. Innovations span control algorithms for CGM-based insulin-delivery systems, glucose-responsive polymer matrices, bio-inspired design based on insulin's conformational switch mechanism upon insulin receptor engagement, and glucose-responsive modifications of new insulin analogues. In each case, innovations in insulin chemistry and formulation may enhance clinical outcomes. Prospects are discussed for intrinsic glucose-responsive insulin analogues containing a reversible switch (regulating bioavailability or conformation) that can be activated by glucose at high concentrations.

Flash Glucose Monitoring and Patient Satisfaction: A Meta-Review of Systematic Reviews

Flash glucose monitoring (FGM) systems have been suggested to have clinical beneficial effects in patients with diabetes mellitus, although their improvements in terms of quality of life (QoL) and patients’ satisfaction are not always addressed or are considered a secondary outcome. Thus, the aim of this meta-review is to establish the benefits of FGM in terms of patients’ satisfaction and QoL in both type 1 and type 2 diabetes patients using evidence from past systematic reviews and meta-analyses. Major databases were searched for systematic reviews (with or without meta-analyses) that assessed the satisfaction or QoL of type 1 or 2 diabetes patients using FGM compared with other glucose monitoring systems. The quality of the included systematic reviews was addressed with the Assessment of Multiple Systematic Reviews 2 (AMSTAR-2) tool. Six systematic reviews (including two meta-analyses) were included in the meta-review. Evidence suggests that FGM systems seem to improve patients’ satisfaction and QoL compared with self-monitoring of blood glucose, although the high variability in the measurement tools, the clinical significance and the quality of the systematic reviews included do not allow us to state FGM benefits with any certainty. Further research, including high-quality randomised clinical trials, differentiating the needs of both type 1 and type 2 diabetes patients and focusing on psychosocial benefits for these patients is needed to optimise clinical decisions between patients and professionals by developing the right health technology assessment for FGM systems.

Views of People with Diabetes Regarding Their Experiences of the Facilitators and Barriers in Type 1 Diabetes Inpatient Care: An Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis

BACKGROUND

The aim of this study was to comprehend how people with diabetes view their experiences of the possible barriers and facilitators in inpatient care for type 1 diabetes from non-specialized nurses.

DESIGN

An interpretative phenomenology analysis (IPA) was conducted.

METHODS

The sample consisted of people with type 1 diabetes 1 (n = 24) who use the services of the state hospitals in Cyprus. The data were collected in two phases: firstly, focus groups with people with diabetes (n = 2) were conducted and analysed, and then individual semi-structured interviews with people with diabetes (n = 12) were conducted.

RESULTS

It is evident from the findings that people with diabetes experienced several barriers in diabetes inpatient care, which is concerning since this can have adverse effects on patients' outcomes. No facilitators were reported.

CONCLUSION

Significant results were found in relation to the barriers to diabetes inpatient care. Crucially, the findings demonstrate that all these factors can negatively affect the quality of care of patients with diabetes, and most of these factors are related not only to diabetes care but also generally to all patients who receive inpatient care. Interestingly, no participant reported any facilitators to their care, which further affected the negative perceptions of the care received.

Four-microRNA signature for detection of type 2 diabetes

BACKGROUND

Sensitive, novel, and accurate biomarkers for the detection of physiological changes in type 2 diabetes (T2DM) at an early stage are urgently needed.

AIM

To build a multi-parameter diagnostic model for the early detection of T2DM.

METHODS

MiR-148b, miR-223, miR-130a, and miR-19a levels were detected by real-time polymerase chain reaction in serum of healthy controls, individuals with impaired glucose regulation, and T2DM patients. The diagnostic value of miR-148b, miR-223, miR-130a, and miR-19a, alone or in combination, was analyzed.

RESULTS

The area under the curve (AUC) of miR-223, which had the best diagnostic value for discriminating the impaired glucose regulation and T2DM groups, was 0.84, and the sensitivity and specificity were 73.37% and 81.37%, respectively. The AUC of the four-miRNA signature was 0.90, and the sensitivity and specificity were 78.82% and 88.23%, respectively. In the validation set, the AUC was 0.88, and the sensitivity and specificity were 78.36% and 87.63%, respectively.

CONCLUSION

In summary, we have built a multi-parameter diagnostic model consisting of miR-148b, miR-223, miR-130a, and miR-19a for the detection of T2DM. It may be a potential tool for the early detection of T2DM.