Sonia Butalia

Aspirin effect on the incidence of major adverse cardiovascular events in patients with diabetes mellitus: a systematic review and meta-analysis

BackgroundAspirin has been recommended for the prevention of major adverse cardiovascular events (MACE, composite of non-fatal myocardial infarction, non-fatal stroke, and cardiovascular death) in diabetic patients without previous cardiovascular disease. However, recent meta-analyses have prompted re-evaluation of this practice. The study objective was to evaluate the relative and absolute benefits and harms of aspirin for the prevention of incident MACE in patients with diabetes.MethodsWe performed a systematic review and meta-analysis on seven studies (N = 11,618) reporting on the use of aspirin for the primary prevention of MACE in patients with diabetes. Two reviewers conducted a systematic search of electronic databases (MEDLINE, EMBASE, the Cochrane Library, and BIOSIS) and hand searched bibliographies and clinical trial registries. Reviewers extracted data in duplicate, evaluated the quality of the trials, and calculated pooled estimates.ResultsA total of 11,618 participants were included in the analysis. The overall risk ratio (RR) for MACE was 0.91 (95% confidence intervals, CI, 0.82-1.00) with little heterogeneity among trials (I2 0.0%). Secondary outcomes of interest included myocardial infarction (RR, 0.85; 95% CI, 0.66-1.10), stroke (RR, 0.84; 95% CI, 0.64-1.11), cardiovascular death (RR, 0.95; 95% CI, 0.71-1.27), and all-cause mortality (RR, 0.95; 95% CI, 0.85-1.06). There were higher rates of hemorrhagic and gastrointestinal events. In absolute terms, these relative risks indicate that for every 10,000 diabetic patients treated with aspirin, 109 MACE may be prevented at the expense of 19 major bleeding events (with the caveat that the relative risk for the latter is not statistically significant).ConclusionsThe studies reviewed suggest that aspirin reduces the risk of MACE in patients with diabetes without cardiovascular disease, while also causing a trend toward higher rates of bleeding and gastrointestinal complications. These findings and our absolute benefit and risk calculations suggest that those with diabetes but without cardiovascular disease lie somewhere between primary and secondary prevention patients on the spectrum of benefit and risk. This underscores the importance of considering individual risk in clinical decision making regarding aspirin in those with diabetes.

Pharmacologic Management of Type 2 Diabetes: 2016 Interim Update

The initial draft of this commentary was prepared by Ronald Goldenberg MD, FRCPC, FACE, Maureen Clement MD, CCFP, Amir Hanna MB, BCh, FRCPC, FACP, William Harper MD, FRCPC, Andrea Main BScPhm, CDE, Ravi Retnakaran MD, MSc, FRCPC, Diana Sherifali RN, PhD, CDE, Vincent Woo MD, FRCPC, Jean-Francois Yale MD, CSPQ, FRCPC, and Alice Y.Y. Cheng MD, FRCPC, on behalf of the Steering Committee for the Canadian Diabetes Association 2013 Clinical Practice Guidelines for the Prevention and Management of Diabetes in Canada.

Short- and long-term outcomes of metformin compared with insulin alone in pregnancy: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

To assess the short‐ and long‐term maternal and fetal impact of metformin in pregnancy compared with insulin.

Clinical and socio-demographic factors associated with diabetic ketoacidosis hospitalization in adults with Type 1 diabetes.

To identify the clinical and socio‐demographic factors associated with hospitalization for diabetic ketoacidosis in adults with Type 1 diabetes.

Systematic review of validated case definitions for diabetes in ICD-9-coded and ICD-10-coded data in adult populations

Objectives With steady increases in ‘big data’ and data analytics over the past two decades, administrative health databases have become more accessible and are now used regularly for diabetes surveillance. The objective of this study is to systematically review validated International Classification of Diseases (ICD)-based case definitions for diabetes in the adult population. Setting, participants and outcome measures Electronic databases, MEDLINE and Embase, were searched for validation studies where an administrative case definition (using ICD codes) for diabetes in adults was validated against a reference and statistical measures of the performance reported. Results The search yielded 2895 abstracts, and of the 193 potentially relevant studies, 16 met criteria. Diabetes definition for adults varied by data source, including physician claims (sensitivity ranged from 26.9% to 97%, specificity ranged from 94.3% to 99.4%, positive predictive value (PPV) ranged from 71.4% to 96.2%, negative predictive value (NPV) ranged from 95% to 99.6% and κ ranged from 0.8 to 0.9), hospital discharge data (sensitivity ranged from 59.1% to 92.6%, specificity ranged from 95.5% to 99%, PPV ranged from 62.5% to 96%, NPV ranged from 90.8% to 99% and κ ranged from 0.6 to 0.9) and a combination of both (sensitivity ranged from 57% to 95.6%, specificity ranged from 88% to 98.5%, PPV ranged from 54% to 80%, NPV ranged from 98% to 99.6% and κ ranged from 0.7 to 0.8). Conclusions Overall, administrative health databases are useful for undertaking diabetes surveillance, but an awareness of the variation in performance being affected by case definition is essential. The performance characteristics of these case definitions depend on the variations in the definition of primary diagnosis in ICD-coded discharge data and/or the methodology adopted by the healthcare facility to extract information from patient records.

Environmental Risk Factors and Type 1 Diabetes: Past, Present, and Future

Type 1 diabetes is an autoimmune condition that results from the destruction of the insulin-producing beta cells of the pancreas. The excess morbidity and mortality resulting from its complications, coupled with its increasing incidence, emphasize the importance of better understanding the causes of this condition. Over the past several decades, a substantive amount of work has been done and, although many advances have occurred in identifying disease-susceptibility genes, there has been a lag in understanding the environmental triggers. Several putative environmental risk factors have been proposed, including infections, dietary factors, air pollution, vaccines, location of residence, family environment and stress. However, most of these factors have been inconclusive, thus supporting the need for further study into the causes of type 1 diabetes.

Pharmacologic Glycemic Management of Type 2 Diabetes in Adults

• Healthy behaviour interventions should be initiated in people newly diagnosed with type 2 diabetes. • In people with type 2 diabetes with A1C <1.5% above the person’s individualized target, antihyperglycemic pharmacotherapy should be added if glycemic targets are not achieved within 3 months of initiating healthy behaviour interventions. • In people with type 2 diabetes with A1C ≥1.5% above target, antihyperglycemic agents should be initiated concomitantly with healthy behaviour interventions, and consideration could be given to initiating combination therapy with 2 agents. • Insulin should be initiated immediately in individuals with metabolic decompensation and/or symptomatic hyperglycemia. • In the absence of metabolic decompensation, metformin should be the initial agent of choice in people with newly diagnosed type 2 diabetes, unless contraindicated. • Dose adjustments and/or additional agents should be instituted to achieve target A1C within 3 to 6 months. Choice of second-line antihyperglycemic agents should be made based on individual patient characteristics, patient preferences, any contraindications to the drug, glucose-lowering efficacy, risk of hypoglycemia, affordability/access, effect on body weight and other factors. • In people with clinical cardiovascular (CV) disease in whom A1C targets are not achieved with existing pharmacotherapy, an antihyperglycemic agent with demonstrated CV outcome benefit should be added to antihyperglycemic therapy to reduce CV risk. • In people without clinical CV disease in whom A1C target is not achieved with current therapy, if affordability and access are not barriers, people with type 2 diabetes and their providers who are concerned about hypoglycemia and weight gain may prefer an incretin agent (DPP-4 inhibitor or GLP-1 receptor agonist) and/or an SGLT2 inhibitor to other agents as they improve glycemic control with a low risk of hypoglycemia and weight gain. • In people receiving an antihyperglycemic regimen containing insulin, in whom glycemic targets are not achieved, the addition of a GLP-1 receptor agonist, DPP-4 inhibitor or SGLT2 inhibitor may be considered before adding or intensifying prandial insulin therapy to improve glycemic control with less weight gain and comparable or lower hypoglycemia risk.

Large‐for‐gestational‐age (LGA) neonate predicts a 2.5‐fold increased odds of neonatal hypoglycaemia in women with type 1 diabetes

The objective of the study is to assess the impact of maternal glycaemic control and large‐for‐gestational‐age (LGA) infant size on the risk of developing neonatal hypoglycaemia in offspring of women with type 1 diabetes and to determine possible predictors of neonatal hypoglycaemia and LGA.

Temporal variation of diabetic ketoacidosis and hypoglycemia in adults with type 1 diabetes: A nationwide cohort study

Seasonality in health outcomes has long been recognized for conditions such as colds and flus. The aim of the present study was to determine whether hospitalizations for acute complications of type 1 diabetes (T1D) vary by month and season.

Association Between Diabetic Ketoacidosis Hospitalizations and Driving Distance to Outpatient Diabetes Centres in Adults with Type 1 Diabetes Mellitus

OBJECTIVE The purpose of this study was to assess the relationship between diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA) hospitalization and driving distance from home to outpatient diabetes care in adults with type 1 diabetes mellitus. METHODS We identified adults with type 1 diabetes using clinical and administrative databases living in Calgary, Alberta. The International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems, Tenth Revision, codes were used to identify DKA hospitalizations, and geographic information systems were used to obtain road distance. Multivariate logistic regression was used to assess the association between driving distance (exposure) to diabetes care sites and the outcome of DKA hospitalization. RESULTS We identified 1467 patients (151 patients with DKA) with type 1 diabetes. Patients with DKA hospitalizations were younger (35.6 vs. 41.0 years), had shorter duration of diabetes (13.6 vs. 18.7 years) and higher glycated hemoglobin (9.2% vs. 8.4%). Driving distance from home to diabetes centre 1 (adjusted odds ratio 1.02 per 1 km; 95% confidence interval, 0.96 to 1.07), diabetes centre 2 (adjusted odds ratio 1.01; 95% confidence interval, 0.99 to 1.04) or closest general practitioner (adjusted odds ratio 0.9; 95% confidence interval, 0.63 to 1.25) was not associated with DKA hospitalization. Driving distance was also not associated with glycemic control. CONCLUSIONS Within a large urban city, driving distance to diabetes centres does not appear to be protective of DKA hospitalization. However, this work does not preclude the role of local travel distance and diabetes outcomes. More research is required to explore the role of other individual, neighbourhood and community factors that influence DKA hospitalization.