Obesity and Diabetes: Screening and Lifestyle Changes

Mike Hennessy

Letter From the Publisher

With reports from the American Diabetes Association 72nd Scientific Sessions held in June, it has become increasingly clear that the rise in diabetes—especially in children—should be a wake-up call for families across the nation. The new numbers for youth and diabetes are sobering, as our Meeting Report department details: “From 2001 to 2009 the prevalence of type 1 and type 2 diabetes increased 23% and 21%, respectively.”

Here comes the additional wake-up call—of adolescents with diabetes, nearly 1 in 5 smoke and 90% of children with type 2 diabetes are obese. Shouldn’t we be asking the question, “Where are the parents?” By the time it has gotten to this point with a chronic health condition, these children should have received more guidance from their parents or been held more accountable for their own health. All this is easier said than done, but the physician is then put in the tough position of providing the wake-up call and the bad news. For cardiologists, the combination of obesity and diabetes is deadly and only makes heart health even more of a challenge. In our News & Trends department, Cardiology Review reports on the new statement issued by the US Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF), which adds a critical new recommendation to its original 2003 recommendation that all patients be screened for obesity. The new statement takes it a step further and recommends that physicians refer all obese patients to intensive counseling for weight loss. Even non-obese patients who are at risk should be counseled for better lifestyle choices, the USPSTF stated.

This dramatic change underscores the importance of patients consistently making healthy choices on a daily basis, and also involves the physician even more in the lifestyle choices and decisions made by their patients. With Cardiology Review, you’ll find information on the latest critical thinking on topics that you can use in your everyday practice to aid you in helping your patients with all of their heart health issues. This issue contains a wide range of CME Reviews and Commentaries by our esteemed Editorial Advisory Board, and brings current studies in cholesterol, sleep apnea, calcium supplementation, and the impact of coffee consumption on stroke, among other useful topics, directly to you as a CME activity available online at www.cardiology-review.com.

Thank you for reading!