31 Aug Type 1 Diabetes: New Model Predicts Major Outcomes
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Dr. Sabita Soedamah-Muthu
Division of Human Nutrition,Wageningen University
Wageningen, the Netherlands
and Prof Trevor Orchard
Department of Epidemiology,
Graduate School of Public Health,
University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA, USA
Medical Research: What are the main findings of the study?
Answer: We present a new prognostic model combining information on age, glycated haemoglobin, waist-hip ratio, albumin/creatinine ratio and HDL (good) cholesterol to assess the 3, 5 and 7 year risk of developing major outcomes in patients with type 1 diabetes.
Medical Research: Were any of the findings unexpected?
Answer: While all these prognostic factors are known to predict complications of diabetes, the strength of the waist-hip ratio was a little surprising and adds further strength to the hypothesis that weight gain and insulin resistance may have a key role in type 1 diabetes.
Medical Research: What should clinicians and patients take away from your report?
Answer: We provide a clinical tool to automatically assess the risk of developing major outcomes combining severe coronary heart disease, stroke, end stage renal failure, amputations, blindness and all-cause mortality in patients with type 1 diabetes.
This tool can aid physicians and patients to identify those at highest risk and focus the intervention following existing guidelines. It can also help to select high-risk populations for randomized controlled trials.
Medical Research: What recommendations do you have for future research as a result of this study?
Answer: In the future, we would like to update and further validate the model in other study populations and see prevention strategies developed based on these prognostic factors.
Citation:
Last Updated on January 7, 2015 by Marie Benz MD FAAD