PRESS-NEWS.org - Press Release Distribution
PRESS RELEASES DISTRIBUTION

Hypoglycemia link to HbA1c has declined in type 1 diabetes

2014-10-07
(Press-News.org) The link between low average glucose blood levels and greater risk for severe hypoglycemia and hypoglycemic coma substantially declined between 1995 and 2012 in young Germans and Austrians with type 1 diabetes, according to a study published by Beate Karges and colleagues from the RWTH Aachen University, Germany in this week's PLOS Medicine.

The researchers obtained measurements of average blood glucose levels (measured as HbA1c) and the incidents of severe hypoglycemia and hypoglycemic coma from 37,539 children and young adults with type 1 diabetes between 1995 and 2012 in Austria and Germany. From 1995 to 2012, the relative risk for severe hypoglycemia and hypoglycemic coma per 1% decrease in HbA1c levels declined from 1.28 to 1.05 for severe hypoglycemia and from 1.39 to 1.01 for coma, corresponding to a drop in risk of 1.2% and 1.9% each year, respectively. This decrease mainly occurred because of substantial reductions in the risk of hypoglycemia in patients with lower average blood glucose levels measured as HbA1c between 6.0% and 7.9%.

While the study does not examine the causes of this reduction, the authors do note that the use of insulin analogs and of insulin pumps increased and there was an increase in how often patients monitored their blood glucose level over this time period.

The authors say: "The previously strong association of low HbA1c with severe hypoglycemia and coma in young individuals with type 1 diabetes has substantially decreased in the last decade, allowing achievement of near-normal glycemic control in these patients."

INFORMATION: Research Article

Funding: This work was supported by the Competence Network for Diabetes Mellitus, funded by the BMBF Federal Ministry of Education and Research (FKZ01GI1106 and 01GI1109B), Berlin, Germany; and the European Foundation for the Study of Diabetes. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.

Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Citation: : Karges B, Rosenbauer J, Kapellen T, Wagner VM, Schober E, et al. (2014) Hemoglobin A1c Levels and Risk of Severe Hypoglycemia in Children and Young Adults with Type 1 Diabetes from Germany and Austria: A Trend Analysis in a Cohort of 37,539 Patients between 1995 and 2012. PLoS Med 11(10): e1001742.doi:10.1371/journal.pmed.1001742

Author Affiliations: RWTH Aachen University, GERMANY German Diabetes Center, Leibniz Center at University of Dusseldorf, GERMANY University of Leipzig, GERMANY University of Lubeck, GERMANY Medical University of Vienna, AUSTRIA University of Ulm, GERMANY



Contact: Beate Karges
RWTH Aachen University
GERMANY
+49 241 8080867
bkarges@ukaachen.de


ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:

Oral chelation for environmental lead toxicity

2014-10-07
Treatment with dimercaptosuccinic acid (DMSA), an oral chelation agent, was linked to reductions in the amount of lead in blood in young children in Zamfara State, Nigeria following environmental lead contamination, according to a study by Jane Greig and colleagues from Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) published in this week's PLOS Medicine. The researchers report findings from an MSF program initiated in May 2010 to reduce lead poisoning in children following widespread environmental lead contamination due to gold mining in Zamfara State, Nigeria, leading to ...

How female flies know when to say 'yes'

2014-10-07
A fundamental question in neurobiology is how animals, including humans, make decisions. A new study publishing in the open access journal PLOS Biology on October 7 reveals how fruit fly females make a very important decision: to either accept or reject male courtship. This decision appears to be generated by a very small number of excitatory neurons that use acetylcholine as their neurotransmitter located in three brain regions. This study provides the framework to understand how decisions are generated and suggests that a decision is reached because that option is literally ...

New at-risk group identified for gastrointestinal stromal tumors

New at-risk group identified for gastrointestinal stromal tumors
2014-10-07
Researchers at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine have, for the first time, clearly defined the epidemiology of gastrointestinal stromal tumors (GIST), which occur primarily in the lining of the stomach and small intestine. One key finding: Patients of Asian descent, who have not previously been identified as an at-risk population, are 1.5 times more likely than other patient groups to be diagnosed with this type of tumor. Results of the study were published this week in Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention, a journal of the American Association ...

George Washington physician addresses stigma against patients and providers with disabilities

2014-10-07
WASHINGTON (Oct. 7, 2014) — Nearly 20 percent of Americans have a disability, yet only 25 percent of medical schools include in their curricula caring for people with disabilities. Numerous reports have documented that people with disabilities have poorer health and receive inferior care. In a Narrative Matters essay published in Health Affairs, Leana Wen, M.D., director of patient-centered care research and assistant professor of emergency medicine at the George Washington University School of Medicine and Health Sciences, shares her own experiences to highlight ...

Survival molecule helps cancer cells hide from the immune system

2014-10-07
COLUMBUS, Ohio – A molecule that helps cancer cells evade programmed self-destruction, an internal source of death, might also help malignant cells hide from the immune system, an external source of death. A new study by researchers at The Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center – Arthur G. James Cancer Hospital and Richard J. Solove Research Institute (OSUCCC – James) shows that a molecule called nuclear factor kappa B (NF-kB) helps cancer cells by inhibiting the immune system's ability to detect and destroy them. The molecule regulates genes ...

Researchers identify 'Achilles heel' in metabolic pathway that could lead to new cancer treatment

Researchers identify Achilles heel in metabolic pathway that could lead to new cancer treatment
2014-10-07
DALLAS – Oct. 7, 2014 – Researchers at UT Southwestern Medical Center have found an "Achilles heel" in a metabolic pathway crucial to stopping the growth of lung cancer cells. At the heart of this pathway lies PPARγ (peroxisome proliferation-activated receptor gamma), a protein that regulates glucose and lipid metabolism in normal cells. Researchers demonstrated that by activating PPARγ with antidiabetic drugs in lung cancer cells, they could stop these tumor cells from dividing. "We found that activation of PPARγ causes a major metabolic ...

State policies can influence access to heroin treatment, study finds

2014-10-07
State policies can influence the number of physicians licensed to prescribe buprenorphine, a drug that can treat addiction to heroin and other opioids in outpatient settings, according to a new RAND Corporation study. Examining county-level numbers of physicians approved to prescribe buprenorphine, researchers found a significant link between the number of approved physicians and both specific state guidance regarding the use of buprenorphine and the distribution of clinical guidelines for buprenorphine treatment. The findings were published online by the Journal of ...

Sleeping in dentures doubles the risk of pneumonia in the elderly

2014-10-07
Alexandria, Va., USA – Poor oral health and hygiene are increasingly recognized as major risk factors for pneumonia among the elderly. To identify modifiable oral health-related risk factors, lead researcher Toshimitsu Iinuma, Nihon University School of Dentistry, Japan, and a team of researchers prospectively investigated associations between a constellation of oral health behaviors and incidences of pneumonia in the community-living of elders 85 years of age or older. This study, titled "Denture Wearing During Sleep Doubles the Risk of Pneumonia in Very Elderly," ...

The sex difference in distance running has disappeared for participation but not for competitiveness

The sex difference in distance running has disappeared for participation but not for competitiveness
2014-10-07
ALLENDALE, Mich. — Even among contemporary U.S. distance runners, men are still much more likely than women to have a competitive orientation, according to researchers at Grand Valley State University in Allendale, Michigan. The findings were published in the online journal, Evolutionary Psychology at http://www.epjournal.net/articles/u-s-masters-track-participation-reveals-a-stable-sex-difference-in-competitiveness/ The new research, led by Robert Deaner, associate professor of psychology at Grand Valley State, shows that, on average, American men participate at ...

Live and let-7: MicroRNA plays surprising role in cell survival

Live and let-7: MicroRNA plays surprising role in cell survival
2014-10-07
Researchers at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine have identified a microRNA molecule as a surprisingly crucial player in managing cell survival and growth. The findings, published in the October 7 issue of Cell Metabolism, underscore the emerging recognition that non-coding RNAs – small molecules that are not translated into working proteins – help regulate basic cellular processes and may be key to developing new drugs and therapies. Specifically, principal investigator Albert R. La Spada, MD, PhD, professor of cellular and molecular ...

LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES:

Engineers uncover why tiny particles form clusters in turbulent air

GLP-1RA drugs dramatically reduce death and cardiovascular risk in psoriasis patients

Psoriasis linked to increased risk of vision-threatening eye disease, study finds

Reprogramming obesity: New drug from Italian biotech aims to treat the underlying causes of obesity

Type 2 diabetes may accelerate development of multiple chronic diseases, particularly in the early stages, UK Biobank study suggests

Resistance training may improve nerve health, slow aging process, study shows

Common and inexpensive medicine halves the risk of recurrence in patients with colorectal cancer

SwRI-built instruments to monitor, provide advanced warning of space weather events

Breakthrough advances sodium-based battery design

New targeted radiation therapy shows near-complete response in rare sarcoma patients

Does physical frailty contribute to dementia?

Soccer headers and brain health: Study finds changes within folds of the brain

Decoding plants’ language of light

UNC Greensboro study finds ticks carrying Lyme disease moving into western NC

New implant restores blood pressure balance after spinal cord injury

New York City's medical specialist advantage may be an illusion, new NYU Tandon research shows

Could a local anesthetic that doesn’t impair motor function be within reach?

1 in 8 Italian cetacean strandings show evidence of fishery interactions, with bottlenose and striped dolphins most commonly affected, according to analysis across four decades of data and more than 5

In the wild, chimpanzees likely ingest the equivalent of several alcoholic drinks every day

Warming of 2°C intensifies Arctic carbon sink but weakens Alpine sink, study finds

Bronze and Iron Age cultures in the Middle East were committed to wine production

Indian adolescents are mostly starting their periods at an earlier age than 25 years ago

Temporary medical centers in Gaza known as "Medical Points" (MPs) treat an average of 117 people daily with only about 7 staff per MP

Rates of alcohol-induced deaths among the general population nearly doubled from 1999 to 2024

PLOS One study: In adolescent lab animals exposed to cocaine, High-Intensity Interval Training boosts aversion to the drug

Scientists identify four ways our bodies respond to COVID-19 vaccines

Stronger together: A new fusion protein boosts cancer immunotherapy

Hidden brain waves as triggers for post-seizure wandering

Music training can help the brain focus

Researcher develop the first hydride ion prototype battery

[Press-News.org] Hypoglycemia link to HbA1c has declined in type 1 diabetes