Diabetes Update

The American Diabetes Association (ADA) updates their practice guidelines every year, incorporating new data that can have a significant impact on patient health, care, and outcomes. Each January for the past 26 years, the ADA has published these guidelines as the Standards of Medical Care in Diabetes, referred to simply as the “Standards of Care.” This publication is the go-to reference guide for many healthcare professionals who care for people with diabetes. It provides practitioners, patients, researchers, and payers with the components of diabetes care, general treatment goals, and tools to evaluate the quality of care.

While healthcare providers may focus on managing glucose, blood pressure, and lipid goals in patients with diabetes, the cornerstone of therapy is Diabetes Self-Management Education and Support (DSME/S), which engages the patient in active collaboration with the healthcare team Self-management is an ongoing, lifelong process that does not stop after each healthcare visit. Healthcare providers need to understand that patients manage their diabetes on their own almost all of the time; relatively little time is spent in medical offices, clinics, or pharmacies where diabetes counseling and follow-up take place. The 2017 Standards of Care pays significant attention to patients' social, psychological, and financial circumstances because these affect patients’ ability to self-manage their diabetes. The emphasis is on helping people with diabetes live as normally as possible.

Treatment goals (eg, for glucose, blood pressure, and lipids) will be achieved only if the patient is able to implement the treatment plan.
This issue will focus on noteworthy changes in the Standards of Care, including: 1) updates on classification and diagnosis, 2) prevention or delay of type 2 diabetes (T2DM), 3) promotion of health and reduction of health disparities among populations, 4) a review of cardiovas- cular outcomes trials of newer diabetes medications, and 5) a brief update on metformin.