Technological advances that are transforming diabetes care will be showcased in the Clinical Diabetes/Therapeutics track at the 77th Scientific Sessions.

“Technology related to continuous glucose monitoring and the artificial pancreas are taking the lead this year in clinical diabetes and therapeutics,” said Joni Beck, PharmD, BC-ADM, CDE, who helped plan sessions in the area of therapeutics/new technologies on the Scientific Sessions Meeting Planning Committee. “Advances in technology are providing us with new tools to manage diabetes.”

Joni Beck, PharmD, BC-ADM, CDE

New technology will be highlighted in the Joint ADA/JDRF Symposium – Progress Towards an Artificial Pancreas on Sunday, June 11 (8:00 a.m.–10:00 a.m.), and also during Sunday’s Current Issues session Should Continuous Glucose Monitoring Be Prescribed for People with Type 2 Diabetes? A Pro/Con Discussion (2:15 p.m.–4:15 p.m.).

“We will have several leaders in the field discussing just how far we have come in developing the artificial pancreas and how far we have to go,” said Dr. Beck, Professor and Clinical Programs Director in Pediatric Diabetes and Endocrinology at the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center. “These symposia will touch on several key concepts and practical clinical questions related to the role of continuous glucose monitoring in diabetes.”

Dr. Beck also highlighted these sessions:

1:45 p.m.–3:45 p.m. Saturday, June 10
Dealing with the Rising Costs of Insulin—An Active Dialogue
“If you work in diabetes, you are cognizant of the soaring cost of insulin and the challenges your patients face in obtaining insulin to care for their diabetes. This dialogue will look at the different players involved, the clinical decision-making, and the next steps that we might take as a diabetes community.”

4:00 p.m.–6:00 p.m. Saturday
Harnessing the Power of Digital Connectivity in Sickness and in Health
“We hope to learn how technology and digital health can help leverage health-care initiatives. We will touch on health apps as well as current gaps in technology research that relate specifically to diabetes.”

Health Care Delivery/Economics

Health-care delivery is all about the details, said the member of the Scientific Sessions Meeting Planning Committee planning sessions in the area of health care delivery/economics, Thomas Songer, PhD, MSc, MPH, Assistant Professor of Epidemiology at the University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public Health. Providing the best possible care demands constant attention, he added.

“Our primary symposium in the track is Overtreatment in Diabetes Management on Saturday [1:45 p.m.–3:45 p.m.],” Dr. Songer said. “It addresses the emerging emphasis on personalized medicine and its implications for clinical decision-making in diabetes care. One argument suggests that we may over-treat some patients when we treat to meet glycemic goals developed from clinical trials. Some patients are unique and clinical trial recommendations may not be relevant for them. Our speakers will examine the idea that not all patients benefit from treating to trial-based recommendations. We need to personalize treatment, not put every patient on the same regimen.”

Here are a few other sessions Dr. Songer highlighted:

2:00 p.m.–4:00 p.m. Friday, June 9
Hypoglycemia Prediction Models for Risk Stratification—Prediction to Prevention
“The prediction of hypoglycemia is particularly relevant in type 2 diabetes as we are going into more intensive treatment strategies. This symposium will present recent research on hypoglycemia risk and address how this evidence is being used to develop prediction tools for clinical decision-making.”

8:00 a.m.–10:00 a.m. Monday
Oral Presentations: Potential Implications of the Affordable Care Act on Diabetes Care
“We have eight submissions that address health-care delivery issues related, directly or indirectly, to the Affordable Care Act and its influence on diabetes care. This original research provides some provocative evidence on what clinicians and patients may face in a changing health insurance environment.”

2:15 p.m.–4:15 p.m. Sunday
Pharmacologic Strategies in Diverse Populations
“Disadvantaged populations are where the highest complication rates and the highest mortality rates related to diabetes are. This symposium will highlight three innovative programs, all from the West Coast, that demonstrate different approaches to diabetes care that can be used to reach and treat these populations.”

Pregnancy

Most clinicians in North America who take care of women with diabetes during pregnancy recognize that glycemic control is key to maternal and fetal health.

“Even mild increases in glucose have adverse outcomes,” said the Scientific Sessions Meeting Planning Committee member in the area of pregnancy, Rebecca A. Simmons, MD, the Hallam Hurt Professor in Neonatology at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. “Now we’re trying to figure out the best treatment strategies.”

Rebecca A. Simmons, MD

One of the most important pregnancy symposia at this year’s meeting is a session on Saturday (8:00 a.m.–10:00 a.m.) titled Effects of Diabetes in Pregnancy on the Developing Brain—Is There a Unifying Mechanism? Many clinicians believe that mild hyperglycemia during pregnancy may result in an infant who is large for gestational age, but is unlikely to have other significant consequences.

“It turns out that there are a number of things to worry about in terms of memory deficits and behavioral deficits,” Dr. Simmons said.

Here are two other pregnancy-related sessions that Dr. Simmons recommended:

11:30 a.m.–12:30 p.m. Friday
Provocative Therapies and Clinical Technologies
“We will finally get the results of the SPRING Trial, a randomized controlled trial of probiotics. This will be interesting however it turns out. So will CONCEPTT, a trial of continuous glucose monitoring of women with type 1 diabetes.”

12:00 p.m.–1:00 p.m. Monday
Metformin and Glyburide in Pregnancy—You Say Goodbye, and I Say Hello
“We know that hyperglycemia during pregnancy has multiple adverse effects, now we’re trying to figure out the best treatment strategy in terms of insulin, metformin, and glyburide.”

Youth

The sessions planned in the area of youth are focused on the latest evidence and technologies to help clinicians provide better care for young patients with diabetes, according to Ingrid Libman, MD, PhD, Associate Professor of Pediatric Endocrinology and Diabetes at Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh of UPMC, a member of the Scientific Sessions Meeting Planning Committee.

Ingrid Libman, MD, PhD

“One of our top sessions is the Joint ADA/ISPAD Symposium – Current Status of Complications in Youth With Type 1 Diabetes on Saturday [1:45 p.m.–3:45 p.m.],” she said. “We will hear the latest evidence on when to screen for retinopathy, earlier treatment for diabetic kidney disease, more aggressive management of cardiovascular risk factors, and how prevalent is neuropathy. We will talk in detail about what we should be doing early in order to prevent/delay these complications.”

Dr. Libman also recommended these sessions:

12:00 p.m.–1:00 p.m. Sunday
Staging Presymptomatic Type 1 Diabetes—Is There Enough Evidence?
“Now that we have made great strides in our ability to predict who is more likely to develop type 1 diabetes using β-cell autoantibodies and glucose testing, it has been proposed that it may be time to rethink type 1 diabetes with a staging approach, from presymptomatic disease with the presence of autoantibodies and normoglycemia to prediabetes with antibodies and dysglycemia, and finally symptomatic type 1 diabetes. This will be argued in this pro/con session.”

7:30 a.m.–9:30 a.m. Tuesday, June 13
Pediatric Diabetes and Associated Comorbidities
“We will tackle comorbidities of type 1 diabetes in youth that are prevalent but not always recognized, such as eating disorders, high-risk behaviors such as drugs and alcohol, mental health challenges, poor sleep patterns, and obesity. These complications are important and we must actively look for them in our patients.”