A year in type 2 diabetes mellitus: 2018 review based on the Endorama lecture

The aim of this article is to review and present the most important studies published in the field of type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) during 2018. These studies were presented in a lecture given on this topic at the Endorama Meeting in Patras, Greece, in January 2019. In order to identify the most important and relevant articles, a search in the English language was conducted in PubMed for publications up to the end of December 2018, with special attention paid to publications in high impact factor journals. The highlights of the main Diabetes Meetings [ADA (American Diabetes Association) and EASD (European Association of Diabetes)], as well as Medscape, were also reviewed. Last but not least, press releases regarding advances in the diagnosis and treatment of T2DM were considered. We finally selected and discussed important studies concerning diagnosis, pathophysiology, and management of this very common clinical entity (19 studies). The majority of studies were clinical trials dealing with new therapeutic tools for treatment of the disease, with the greatest focus being on GLP-1RA. We also presented in brief the main points of new guidelines published for T2DM by various scientific societies (3 sets of guidelines). During 2018, not only leading diabetes associations published guidelines on the disease, but also societies belonging to other primary scientific fields. This is indicative of the awareness of physicians and scientists that T2DM constitutes today a major health problem and of the need for public health strategies for its treatment and prevention.