The effectiveness of intensive glycemic control for the prevention of vascular complications in diabetes mellitus.

Obesity and type 2 diabetes mellitus have reached epidemic proportions in the US, and indeed, globally. While microvascular complications contribute to considerable morbidity, much of the excess mortality (around 70%) is due to macrovascular disease. Hyperglycemia has predictable toxic effects on multiple organs ('glucotoxicity') including the pancreas, where it impairs insulin secretion and insulin gene expression through mechanisms that lead to glucose densensitization and beta-cell exhaustion, eventually resulting in irreversible beta-cell failure. There is robust evidence to suggest that strict glycemic control reduces diabetic microvascular complications (retinopathy, nephropathy, and neuropathy) in both primary- and secondary-prevention settings. While unequivocal evidence that intensive glycemic control reduces the risk of death due to macrovascular disease is lacking, meta-analytic data and controlled clinical trial data suggest there may still be clinically significant lowering of the risk for macrovascular endpoints through strict glycemic control. Cardiovascular disease in a diabetic patient is a collusion of several factors besides hyperglycemia, such as hypertension, dyslipidemia, diffuse endothelial dysfunction, hypercoagulability, and inflammation. It is important to address lifestyle issues such as maintenance of ideal bodyweight, good dietary practice, smoking cessation, and regular exercise in the comprehensive risk management of a diabetic patient, in order to reduce the vascular complications. Large, ongoing clinical trials such as ACCORD (Action to Control Cardiovascular Risk in Diabetes) are likely to establish the potential benefits of glycemic control in preventing or postponing macrovascular complications of diabetes.

Effective use of combination lipid therapy.

Despite the benefits of statin therapy, low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol management remains suboptimal and many patients do not achieve their recommended target goals. The aim of combination lipid drug therapy in high-risk patients is to achieve LDL cholesterol and non-high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol goals with a minimum of serious adverse effects. Although statins are the drug of first choice, statin monotherapy may be limited by intolerance of dose escalation or failure to attain non-HDL cholesterol goals in those with mixed hyperlipidemia. Statins plus bile acid resins or ezetimibe can achieve greater than 50% reduction in LDL cholesterol, with little or no increase in adverse effects. Fibrates, niacin, and omega-3 fatty acids, when added to statins, can reduce triglycerides, increase HDL cholesterol, and reduce non-HDL cholesterol to a greater extent than statin monotherapy. The safety profile of combination lipid therapy is acceptable if the global coronary heart disease risk of the patient is high, thus producing a favorable risk to benefit ratio. Careful surveillance of hepatic transaminases, avoidance of gemfibrozil in statin-fibrate combinations, and awareness of statin-concomitant drug interactions is key to safe and efficacious use of combination lipid drug therapy.

Eotaxin and obesity.

CONTEXT: Asthma and obesity incidence is increasing worldwide, and asthma is often more severe in the obese. Eotaxin, a CC chemokine, is important in extrinsic asthma, an inflammatory disorder. OBJECTIVE: Our objective was to examine the relation between eotaxin and obesity. DESIGN: We conducted a comparison study of eotaxin in mice fed high-fat vs. standard chow diet for 26 wk, in obese vs. lean humans, in obese humans before and after 4-6 wk of weight loss, and in sc vs. visceral adipose tissue from patients undergoing bariatric surgery. SETTING: Our clinical study occurred in an outpatient weight loss program. PATIENTS: Patients were obese adults with metabolic syndrome (n = 40) and nine morbidly obese bariatric surgery patients. INTERVENTION: Intervention was a very-low-calorie diet. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: We assessed circulating eotaxin and eotaxin mRNA levels in adipose tissue. RESULTS: Serum eotaxin levels were significantly higher in obese mice, and adipose mRNA levels correlated positively with serum eotaxin levels. Adipose tissue explants from obese mice showed increased secretion of eotaxin compared with explants from lean mice. In obese patients, plasma eotaxin levels were significantly higher than in lean controls and significantly reduced after weight loss, and eotaxin mRNA levels were 4.7-fold higher in visceral than sc adipose tissue. CONCLUSIONS: Circulating eotaxin and eotaxin mRNA levels in visceral adipose tissue were increased in obesity in mice and humans. Adipose tissue explants secrete eotaxin, and the stromal/vascular component of adipose tissue seems to be the predominant source of eotaxin. Diet-induced weight loss in humans led to reduction in plasma eotaxin levels, demonstrating that clinical interventions that target obesity can modulate systemic eotaxin levels.

Safety of statins: effects on muscle and the liver.

Although statin drugs can have adverse effects on muscles and the liver, these effects are uncommon. Caution is warranted in patients at higher risk, ie, those who are elderly, frail, or small; have multisystem disease; are receiving immunosuppressive drugs or other medications that interact with statins; or are receiving higher doses of a statin.

Effective use of combination lipid therapy.

Despite the benefits of statin therapy, low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) management remains suboptimal and many patients do not achieve their recommended target goals. The aim of combination lipid drug therapy in high-risk patients is to achieve LDL-C and non-high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) goals with a minimum of serious adverse effects. Although statins are the drug of first choice, statin monotherapy may be limited by intolerance of dose escalation or failure to attain non-HDL-C goals in those with mixed hyperlipidemia. Statins plus bile acid resins or ezetimibe can achieve greater than 50% reduction in LDL-C, with little or no increase in adverse effects. Fibrates, niacin, and omega-3 fatty acids, when added to statins, can reduce triglycerides, increase HDL-C, and reduce non-HDL-C to a greater extent than statin monotherapy. The safety profile of combination lipid therapy is acceptable, if the global coronary heart disease risk of the patient is high, thus producing a favorable risk to benefit ratio. Careful surveillance of hepatic transaminases, avoidance of gemfibrozil in statin-fibrate combinations, and awareness of statin-concomitant drug interactions is key to safe and efficacious use of combination lipid drug therapy.

Cardiometabolic risk assessment: an approach to the prevention of cardiovascular disease and diabetes mellitus.

An alarming increase in the development of cardiovascular disease (CVD) during the past 5 decades has led to intensive research on the epidemiology and pathogenesis of CVD, resulting in dramatic improvements in treatment. Today, there is an alarming increase in obesity and diabetes mellitus (DM), with a concomitant increase in diabetes-related complications, including CVD. Researchers have found that the risk of CVD becomes greater with increasing hyperglycemia and insulin resistance that occur in people long before the onset of clinical DM. Lifestyle modification with moderate weight loss has been shown to prevent or delay the onset of DM in patients who are at high risk for developing this disease. Unfortunately, the current guidelines for risk assessment provided by medical societies and national organizations are numerous, confusing, and inconsistent in their basic approach to identify specific risk factors for CVD and DM in patients. Extending routine systematic assessment from cardiovascular risk to cardiometabolic risk--that is, risk for developing CVD and/or DM--and increasing our understanding of the basic mechanisms that regulate energy balance and metabolic risk factors are needed to address this impending epidemic of DM.

Thiazolidinediones: a review of their mechanisms of insulin sensitization, therapeutic potential, clinical efficacy, and tolerability.

The thiazolidinediones (TZDs) rosiglitazone and pioglitazone are newer additions to the antidiabetic armamentarium and are indicated for the treatment of type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) in the United States. The TZDs are peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor-gamma (PPAR-gamma) agonists that provide clinically effective glycemic control and unique pharmacologic effects on multiple risk factors for T2DM-related morbidity, including improvement of insulin sensitivity and endothelial dysfunction, reduction of blood pressure, and amelioration of dyslipidemia. Weight gain and fluid retention occur with TZD therapy, especially when they are administered in higher doses and in combination with insulin. Although fluid retention associated with the use of TZDs is generally mild and reversible, these agents should not be used in patients with New York Heart Association Class III or IV heart failure symptoms. The findings of ongoing, long-term, prospective studies will clarify the role of the TZDs in the treatment of T2DM, particularly in terms of the durability of improvements in glycemic control, insulin sensitivity, pancreatic beta- cell function, and cardiovascular health.