Socioeconomic status and risk factors for complications in young people with type 1 or type 2 diabetes: a cross-sectional study

Social deprivation and diabetic kidney disease: A European view

There is a large body of literature demonstrating a social gradient in health and increasing evidence of an association between social deprivation and diabetes complications. Diabetic kidney disease (DKD) increases mortality in people with diabetes. Socioeconomic deprivation is increasingly recognized as a modifier of risk factors for kidney disease but also an independent risk factor itself for kidney disease. This may not be truly appreciated by clinicians and warrants further attention and exploration. In this review we explore the literature to date from Europe on the relationship between social deprivation and DKD. The majority of the studies showed at least an association with microalbuminuria, an early marker of DKD, while many showed an association with overt nephropathy. This was seen across many countries in Europe using a variety of different measures of deprivation. We reviewed and considered the mechanisms by which deprivation may lead to DKD. Health related behaviors such as smoking and suboptimal control of risk factors such as hypertension, hyperglycemia and elevated body mass index (BMI) accounts for some but not all of the association. Poorer access to healthcare, health literacy, and stress are also discussed as potential mediators of the association. Addressing deprivation is difficult but starting points include targeted interventions for people living in deprived circumstances, equitable roll out of diabetes technology, and flexible outpatient clinic arrangements including virtual and community-based care.

Neighborhood built and food environment in relation to glycemic control in people with type 2 diabetes in the moving to health study

OBJECTIVE

To examine whether built environment and food metrics are associated with glycemic control in people with type 2 diabetes.

RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS

We included 14,985 patients with type 2 diabetes using electronic health records from Kaiser Permanente Washington. Patient addresses were geocoded with ArcGIS using King County and Esri reference data. Built environment exposures estimated from geocoded locations included residential unit density, transit threshold residential unit density, park access, and having supermarkets and fast food restaurants within 1600-m Euclidean buffers. Linear mixed effects models compared mean changes of HbA1c from baseline at 1, 3 (primary) and 5 years by each built environment variable.

RESULTS

Patients (mean age = 59.4 SD = 13.2, 49.5% female, 16.6% Asian, 9.8% Black, 5.5% Latino/Hispanic, 57.1% White, 20% insulin dependent, mean BMI = 32.7±7.7) had an average of 6 HbA1c measures available. Participants in the 1st tertile of residential density (lowest) had a greater decline in HbA1c (-0.42, -0.43, and -0.44 in years 1, 3, and 5 respectively) than those in the 3rd tertile (HbA1c = -0.37 at 1- and 3-years and -0.36 at 5-years; all p-values <0.05). Having any supermarkets within 1600 m of home was associated with a greater decrease in HbA1c at 1-year and 3-years compared to having none (all p-values <0.05).

CONCLUSIONS

Lower residential density and better proximity to supermarkets may benefit HbA1c control in people with people with type 2 diabetes. However, effects were small and indicate limited clinical significance.

Complications and Treatment of Early-Onset Type 2 Diabetes

Context

Global reports have revealed a dramatic rise in the number of patients diagnosed with type 2 diabetes (T2DM) over the past three decades in all age groups, even in children and adolescents. The physiologic phenomenon of insulin resistance during puberty, as well as genetic and epigenetic factors, are implicated in this phenomenon. It seems that patients with early-onset T2DM experience a more aggressive clinical course; however, limited treatments available for these patients pose a challenge. This narrative review intends to scrutinize the micro- and macrovascular complications and treatments of patients with early-onset T2DM.

Methods

The literature search was conducted in the PubMed database to identify all relevant original English articles published from the beginning of 2018 until January 2023.

Results

Vascular complications, such as albuminuria, hypertension, cardiovascular diseases, and retinopathy, were seen to be more common in early-onset T2DM compared to type 1 diabetes. The odds ratio of vascular complications was higher in early-onset compared to late-onset T2DM. In children and adolescents with T2DM, the only approved medications included metformin, insulin, and glucagon-like peptide-1 agonists. Treatment of early-onset T2DM with metformin monotherapy cannot yield durable glycemic control, and most patients need early combination therapy.

Conclusions

During the past years, the frequency of early-onset T2DM has been growing at an alarming rate. Vascular complications in these patients seem more aggressive and more challenging to control. Hence, further clinical trials should be conducted to develop novel therapeutic approaches and evaluate their long-term benefits in terms of glycemic control and preventing future complications.

Cardiovascular outcomes in type 1 and type 2 diabetes

Diabetes is one of the most prevalent cardiometabolic disorders on the planet. Type 1 diabetes accounts for only a minority of all cases (recently estimated to be ~2% globally); however, since this is a disorder with an early onset, many people live with type 1 diabetes for a long time. CVD and premature death are the main long-term outcomes for both types of diabetes; however, the type of diabetes that carries the highest risk of these outcomes is a controversial topic and has not been widely studied. Because of the association between diabetes and CVD, the rise in type 2 diabetes prevalence over the past decades has huge effects on global health. The excess risk in people with diabetes compared with those without depends, to a large extent, on the presence of other factors, such as general cardiovascular risk factors (e.g. elevated LDL-cholesterol, hypertension and smoking) and also factors that are more specific to diabetes (e.g. HbA1c, and micro- and macroalbuminuria). Some contributory factors are modifiable, while others are not, such as age, sex and type of diabetes. Older people with type 2 diabetes who have risk factors that are under control can achieve levels of CVD risk that are similar to that of the general population, while younger individuals with type 1 diabetes are mostly unable to achieve similar levels of risk, probably because of long and cumulative exposure to raised blood glucose levels. Despite reports of declining rates of CVD among people with type 1 and type 2 diabetes, rising rates of both types of diabetes lead to a continuing rise in the number of people with cardiometabolic disorders worldwide, offsetting the progress made in many countries. Comparison between individuals with type 1 and type 2 diabetes with respect to risk of CVD is fraught with difficulties and highly dependent on other, concomitant factors, some of which are modifiable and others not. Nonetheless, as a whole, what matters most in determining the management of diabetes is absolute risk and lifetime risk. Life-long efforts to achieve glycaemic control, control of lipids and hypertension, and not smoking are key to prevention, with a healthy lifestyle and pharmacological therapy to be implemented as needed.