Episode 102. What's new in Diabetes with Dr Elif Ekinci (Part 2)

In the last 12 months, 121,000 Australians were diagnosed with diabetes, this statistic represents a 7% increase from the preceding year. There are now over 1.236 million Australians with type 2 diabetes and over 129,000 with type 1 diabetes and about 50,000 Australians have gestational diabetes each year -these staggering figures mean that 332 new diagnoses occur each day, about one new case every 5 minutes.

In respect to type 2 diabetes, the metabolic syndrome secondary to the obesity epidemic would appear to be a major contributor to new diagnoses. Australia ranks 6th highest amongst OECD countries (Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development) in relation to its overweight and obese citizen with 67% characterised as overweight or obese (36% overweight, 31% obese).

In this podcast, I was curious to explore how our society might stem the increasing number of cases that are contributing to the major public health epidemic we are facing. Is a sugar tax warranted for example as has been introduced in the United Kingdom? Do we need more health campaigns explaining what a healthy lifestyle and eating plan should look like?

From the pharmacological perspective we are fortunate in having some relatively new and effective drugs added to our therapeutic armamentarium available to tackle type 2 diabetes and these have opened up some exciting new management possibilities with impressive outcomes.

In this conversation with Associate Professor Ekinci, I was keen to understand the place of all these new medications in treatment strategies and the target haemoglobin A1C clinicians should be aiming for.

I was also keen to discuss when insulin should be added to manage type 2 diabetes noting that 40 to 50% of Beta cell function is lost by the time of diagnosis and it is estimated that a further 4-5% of function is lost each subsequent year.

Another exciting line of conversation I had hoped to explore related to new initiatives in the management of type one diabetes in relation to continuous glucose monitoring which in the lead-up to the federal election both major political parties have made firm commitments to support.

Assoc Professor Elif Ekinci is the Sir Edward Dunlop Principal Research Fellow in Medicine at Austin Health and the Dame Kate Campbell Fellow at the University of Melbourne. Elif is a clinician-researcher and an academic endocrinologist who is working to translate research into improved outcomes for people with type one and type 2 diabetes. Her research is focused on the pathophysiology, prevention, detection and treatment of diabetes and its complications through mechanistic studies, observation studies and clinical trials. Elif has received multiple awards for her work in diabetes and is clearly on a stellar career trajectory. It was an incredible privilege to have this conversation with her. Please welcome Assoc Prof Elif Ekinci to the next two episodes.

References:

Assoc Professor Elif Ekinci-Endocrinology Melbourne-www.endocrinologymelb.com.au

Diabetes-Australian Institute of Health and Welfare: www.aihw.gov.au

www.uptodate.com