NIDDK Director's Update Summer 2012

Research Updates

Bladder tests before urinary incontinence surgery in women may be unnecessary: An invasive and costly test commonly done in women before surgery for stress urinary incontinence may not be necessary, according to a study funded by NIDDK. The study compared results after both a pre-operative check-up in a doctor's office and bladder function tests to results after only the office check-up. Women who had only the office check-up had equally successful outcomes after surgery. Results of the study, done by researchers in the Urinary Incontinence Treatment Network (UITN), are posted on the New England Journal of Medicine's website and will be in the journal's May 24 print issue.

Teen with diabetes
Photo credit: CDC/Amanda Mills

Two drugs better than one to treat youth with type 2 diabetes: A combination of two diabetes drugs, metformin and rosiglitazone, was more effective in treating youth with recent-onset type 2 diabetes than metformin alone, a study funded by the NIDDK has found. Adding an intensive lifestyle intervention to metformin provided no more benefit than metformin therapy alone. The study also found that metformin therapy alone was not an effective treatment for many of these youth. In fact, metformin had a much higher failure rate in study participants than has been reported in studies of adults treated with metformin alone. The Treatment Options for type 2 Diabetes in Adolescents and Youth (TODAY) study is the first major comparative effectiveness trial for the treatment of type 2 diabetes in young people. Study results appear in the New England Journal of Medicine on April 29, 2012.

Weight loss and increased fitness slow decline of mobility in adults: Weight loss and increased physical fitness nearly halved the risk of losing mobility in overweight or obese adults with type 2 diabetes, according to four-year results from the Look AHEAD (Action for Health in Diabetes) trial funded by the National Institutes of Health. The results are published in the March 29, 2012, issue of the New England Journal of Medicine.

NIH study finds interventions to prevent type 2 diabetes give good return on investment: Programs to prevent or delay type 2 diabetes in high-risk adults would result in fewer people developing diabetes and lower health care costs over time, researchers conclude in a new study funded by NIH. Prevention programs that apply interventions tested in the landmark Diabetes Prevention Program (DPP) clinical trial would also improve quality of life for people who would otherwise develop type 2 diabetes. The analysis of costs and outcomes in the DPP and its follow-up study is published in the April 2012 issue of Diabetes Care and online March 22.

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