A staggering 17 million Americans have diabetes, with a new patient diagnosed every 21 seconds! This increasing rate of diabetes is alarming, but much of this major public health problem can be prevented with early detection, improved care, and education on diabetes self-management.
Our understanding of the pathophysiology of diabetes has undergone many changes over the last few years, resulting in the availability of many new drugs to treat hyperglycemia; but despite all the advances, glycemic control continues to deteriorate over the years in patients with Type 2 diabetes.
One of the postulated reasons for this is that the pancreatic beta cell continues to fail. At this year’s meeting, we focused on why this happens. Can we preserve the beta cell in Type 2 diabetes? What is the data? Why is it important? Can we really modify the natural history of Type 2 diabetes? You’ll find the answer to these and other important questions as you review the Diabetes VI presentations on this web site.