Type 2 diabetes commonly develops concurrently with other serious conditions, including cardiovascular and pulmonary disorders.
Researchers in the United Kingdom surveyed the trajectory of such illnesses in people with and without type 2 diabetes for up to 50 years.
In years preceding a type 2 diabetes diagnosis, the individuals who developed type 2 diabetes had a greater tendency to develop hypertension, kidney and respiratory problems, and infections.
Type 2 diabetes is a chronic disorder marked by high blood glucose levels. This could be due either to insufficient insulin levels, insulin resistance, or both factors.
Research shared at the 2023 Annual Meeting of The European Association for the Study of Diabetes in Hamburg, Germany suggests that it might be easier to track early type 2 diabetes development in some individuals.
The insights, also published in Diabetes Therapy, came from an analysis based on data from the Diabetes Alliance for Research in England (DARE) study.
Study first author Dr. Adrian Heald of Manchester University, United Kingdom said in a press release: “These findings hint at the potential for type 2 diabetes to be diagnosed earlier, and we hope that the distinct clinical trajectory could become a predictive tool for people at risk of the disease.”
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Your privacy is important to us Discovering the natural course of type 2 diabetes
Type 2 diabetes often develops alongside other conditions. The present study sifted through pre- and post-type 2 diabetes diagnosis clinical histories for further insights into causes and trajectories for related health conditions.
Dr. Heald and his team said “[t]he main goal of this study was to detect any temporal continuums of comorbidity or clinical indications which predate the onset of diabetes and to document the important health difficulties in persons on a time continuum spanning from before and after a clinical diagnosis of type 2 diabetes.”
