New Delhi: The previous ten years have seen a tremendous shift in diabetes treatment choices, including the development of compact, dependable insulin pumps, wearable glucose monitors, and even pancreatic transplantation, according to health professionals.
The bulk of the 422 million people with diabetes worldwide live in low- and middle-income countries, and diabetes is directly responsible for 1.5 million fatalities annually, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).
Over the past few decades, diabetes cases and prevalence have both been continuously rising, and this trend is expected to continue.
Elevated blood glucose (or blood sugar) levels are a defining feature of the chronic, metabolic condition, which over time causes catastrophic damage to the heart, blood vessels, and other organs.
The discovery and extensive clinical use of two medication classes—SGLT2 inhibitors and GLP-1 receptor agonists—has led to a transition in the treatment of Type 2 diabetes away from the Glyptase commonly used in the last ten years.
“Drugs called SGLT2 inhibitors work on the kidney to manage blood sugar and aid in some weight loss without causing low blood sugar levels. According to Dr. Ambrish Mithal, Chairman & Head of Endocrinology & Diabetes, at Max Hospital, Saket, “GLP1 is a molecule that is circulating in the blood released from the intestine and enhances insulin secretion in addition to doing many other things, including managing hunger.
These medications have effects that go far beyond glucose regulation and are impressive additions to our arsenal of diabetic treatment options.
“The oral tablet of SGLT2 can not only control diabetes and help weight loss but can also reduce the risk of progression of renal disease and also partially reverse that including a reduction in urinary protein,” stated Dr. Mithal. Additionally, these medications have demonstrated abilities to avert cardiac fatalities and heart failure.
Similar to this, GLP1, which was originally developed as an anti-diabetic medicine and is now available in two forms (oral or weekly injection), is also used to treat obesity.
Additionally, technology is very important in managing diabetes.
Artificial intelligence (AI)-based apps have made it much simpler and more personalized for consumers to keep track of their food and blood sugar levels.
Continuous glucose monitors (CGM), which are placed on the skin and can continually monitor sugar for up to 2 weeks, have also become more widely available.
The new continuous glucose monitor device is in the form of a patch that, when applied to the patient’s arm or abdomen, records the blood glucose from the interstitial fluid beneath the skin and provides real-time information about the user’s blood glucose, according to Dr. Sonali Kagne, deputy consultant in the department of endocrinology at Sir HN Reliance Foundation Hospital.
She said, “This CGM system can record data for up to seven days or, with some devices, for up to 14 days, and it takes one blood glucose reading every five minutes, providing us a graph of how your blood sugar is behaving throughout the day for the 7 to 14 days.
Another development is the development of new insulin pumps that can automatically alter insulin delivery based on real-time glucose levels. These pumps are especially beneficial for persons with Type-1 diabetes.
“A closed loop system, which combines an insulin pump and a CGM device to monitor blood sugar, is used to administer insulin. According to Dr. Kagne, the device functions like an artificial pancreas by determining whether a person’s blood sugar is high or low at any given moment. It then automatically modifies the dose of insulin administered and administers it in accordance.
The future of medicine, according to the health expert, is personalized care.
There is a lot of study being done on how to determine how much genetics plays a part in a person’s level of diabetes and how to use that information for therapy when we talk about future choices for treating diabetes. Therefore, we are in an era of personalized medicine, where we can customize the course of treatment based on a patient’s needs, taking into account things like genetics, lifestyle, and glucose variability, according to Dr. Kagne.
She clarified that Type-1 and Type-2 diabetes are currently not treated with pancreas transplants very frequently.
But in the future, Dr. Kagne noted, “With the development of the pancreatic transplant and the expansion of its availability, it can be used for the control of blood sugar level and better measurement of diabetes in people with diabetes and very fluctuating blood sugar levels, as well as those with underlying associated comorbidities like the infection of the kidneys.”
The future for those with diabetes is bright thanks to current research on microchips that can detect Type 1 diabetes even before symptoms develop and nanorobots that can deliver insulin while circulating in the bloodstream.
