It’s “In the News…” Got a few minutes? Get caught up! Top stories this week include: where to donate if you want to help people with diabetes in Ukraine, a look at cases of COVID-induced diabetes that seem to be temporary, Dexcom gets FDA breakthrough status for use in hospitals, insulin prices mentioned in the State of the Union, T1D college scholarships and learning more about a non-invasive glucose monitoring system called SugarBeat.
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Episode Transcription Below (or coming soon!)
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Hello and welcome to Diabetes Connections In the News! I’m Stacey Simms and these are the top diabetes stories and headlines of the past seven days. we go live on social media first and then All sources linked up at diabetes dash connections dot com when this airs as a podcast.
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The news is brought to you by The World's Worst Diabetes Mom: Real Life Stories of Parenting a Child With Type 1 Diabetes. Winner of best new non-fiction at the American Book Fest and named a Book Authority best parenting book. Available in paperback, eBook or audio book at amazon.
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Our top story.. a lot of you were asking about help for people with diabetes in Ukraine. I didn’t jump right into this last week because I get very concerned about scams. We hate to think anything about diabetes isn’t on the up and up.. but we need to be careful. I was really glad to see Insulin for Life, which is very well known and well-run, stepping in here. And easy way to donate to them is through Spare a Rose for Ukraine. This is the annual campaign centered around valentine’s day that usually runs through February.. they’re extending it through March. All donations will be directed to Insulin for Life, a registered charity with over two decades of experience providing insulin and diabetes supplies to under-resourced countries, and responding to emergencies. Their international consortium and network in Europe, with partners in Ukraine and neighboring countries, has supplies ready to go if, when and where needed.
https://sparearose.org/
https://www.jdrf.org/blog/2022/03/02/helping-the-diabetes-community-in-ukraine/
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As doctors learn more about people who develop COVID-related diabetes they’re finding blood sugar returns to normal a few months later. Researchers studied 600 patients who showed signs of diabetes while hospitalized for COVID-19, including 78 with no previous diagnosis of diabetes. Compared to patients with pre-existing diabetes, many of the newly diagnosed patients had less severe blood sugar issues but more serious COVID-19. Roughly a year after leaving the hospital, 40% of the newly diagnosed patients had gone back to blood sugar levels considered non-diabetic.
https://www.reuters.com/business/healthcare-pharmaceuticals/covid-related-diabetes-may-be-temporary-racial-disparities-widen-with-omicron-2022-02-25/
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Scotland has nearly 2-million people in a huge ongoing COVID study. The latest info from that shows no association with a COVID infection causing type 1 diabetes in children less than 16 years old. Type 1 in children increased to about 1.2 times the average during the pandemic but it doesn’t seem to have been caused by COVID. The US CDC has said otherwise, that there does seem to be a causal link between COVID and type 1. In all the studies so far, getting a COVID vaccine was not associated with incidence of type 1 diabetes
https://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/969166
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Good news about using the Dexcom CGM in the hospital. The FDA has granted Breakthrough Device Designation for Dexcom for healthcare professionals to monitor and manage glucose levels… in adults who use insulin while in the hospital. We first talked about this in 2020 when the FDA temporarily allowed hospital CGM use because of COVID. Dexcom created a special page on their website to provide resources to clinicians.. I’ll link that up.
https://www.dexcom.com/hospitalcovid-19
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Researchers say they’re making progress into amyloid, a key molecule in the pancreas that contributes to type 2. For the first time, scientists say they’ve uncovered the step-by-step changes that take place in a molecule known as human islet amyloid polypeptide. It’s helpful in the body until it changes into a more damaging form. The researchers said their findings, raise the possibility of new treatments for type 2 diabetes and other amyloid-related diseases such as Alzheimer’s
https://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/969265
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There is a huge psychological barrier against starting insulin for those with type 2. A new web-based resource is hoping to help with that. One in four adults with type 2 report being unwilling to start insulin once it’s recommended. These Australian researchers designed an online resource called “Is insulin right for me?” They went through eight psychological barriers like “does insulin mean my diabetes is more serious?” Then they went through the educational process around each. This was a very small study – fewer than 40 people- but the response was positive enough to continue toward a broader roll out. Editorial here – I speak to people all the time who feel like starting insulin is a failure of will power. I get it, we should all eat better and exercise more.. but no one feels the same shame about blood pressure medication. I’m glad to see this getting some attention.
https://www.healio.com/news/endocrinology/20220228/online-education-may-ease-insulin-fears-of-adults-with-type-2-diabetes
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The price of insulin came up in the State of the Union speech this week. President Biden talking about lowering prescription drugs and capping the price of insulin for the insured. He singled out 7th grader Joshua Davis from Virginia, who was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes when he was 11 months old. Joshua’s father also lives with type 1 and the family were guests of the first lady during the state of the union. It’s not clear if any of the measures to lower prescription drugs will actually get through congress.
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We’re keeping up the non-invasive glucose monitoring news.. and the latest contender is sort of an old one. The My Sugar Watch is said to be moving forward and could be available this year. MySugarWatch is a licensee of the BEAT sensor, also known as SugarBEAT, from Nemaura Medical.
The SugarBEAT CGM has been around for a while, getting its CE Mark European approval in 2019. It’s a small patch that sticks onto your skin for 24 hours, then you replace it. The transmitter sends wireless readings to a smartphone app via Bluetooth every 5 minutes. They submitted to the FDA in early 2020.. with what looks like an updated submission last year. No word on a timeline or US rollout.
https://www.notebookcheck.net/MySugarWatch-needle-free-continuous-glucose-monitor-for-type-2-diabetes-on-the-cards-as-award-winning-Nemaura-posts-encouraging-financials.605046.0.html
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If you’ve got a high school senior with type 1 – you may want to check out Diabetes Scholars. Applications are open now. There is one application to be considered for any and all of the scholarships.. it closes March 27th. You must be a high school senior with Type 1 diabetes seeking a higher education at an accredited two or four year university, college, technical or trade school in the United States. And you must be a US citizen or permanent resident.
https://diabetesscholars.org/
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Our long format episode this week is all about Eversense – we take a deep dive into this implanted CGM system. The FDA just approved the E3 which lasts 180 days – six months – with no sensor changes. Next week? The real story behind the character with diabetes in Pixar’s turning red.
Listen wherever you get your podcasts.
That’s In the News for this week.. if you like it, please share it! Thanks for joining me! See you back here soon.