Management of type 2 diabetes in the new era

Management of type 2 diabetes is advancing beyond glycemic control and is increasingly based on cardiovascular risk stratification. This review summarizes recent advances in the field and identifies existing knowledge gaps and areas of ongoing research.

A bibliographic search was carried out in PubMed for recently published cardiorenal outcome trials, relevant guidelines, and studies on antidiabetic agents in the pipeline.

Findings from cardiovascular outcome trials support the use of glucagon-like peptide 1 (GLP-1) receptor agonists or sodium-glucose cotransporter 2 (SGLT-2) inhibitors for patients with established cardiovascular disease or multiple risk factors, although it as yet remains uncertain whether the benefits are transferable to patients at lower absolute cardiovascular risk. Additionally, robust evidence suggests that SGLT-2 inhibitors improve clinical outcomes for people with concomitant heart failure or chronic kidney disease. Gut hormone multiagonists will likely represent another major addition to the therapeutic armamentarium for morbidly obese individuals with diabetes. Moreover, nonalcoholic fatty liver disease is a common comorbidity and several liver outcome trials are awaited with great interest. Use of insulin as first-line injectable therapy has been displaced by GLP-1 receptor agonists. Once-weekly formulations of basal insulins along with combinations with GLP-1 receptor agonists are also under development and could increase patient convenience. Technologies of glucose sensors are rapidly evolving and have the potential to reduce the burden of frequent blood glucose measurements, mainly for patients treated with intensified insulin regimens.

Management of type 2 diabetes requires a holistic approach and recent breakthroughs are expected to improve the quality of care.