Type 2 Diabetes Treatment Recommendations Updated

The American Diabetes Associated and the European Association for the Study of Diabetes has updated its treatment recommendations for type 2 diabetes this week.

The new guidelines, published online in the journals Diabetes Care and Diabetologia, still suggest the initial treatment recommendations of lifestyle change and the drug metformin for those newly diagnosed with type 2 diabetes.

If the initial treatment plan does not help patients reach their target glucose levels, two treatment choices are now recommended. The first, preferred treatment, involves adding basal insulin, or a sulfoylurea to the lifestyle changes and metformin. The second treatment option calls for the drug piglitazone, or a GLP-1 agonist, be added to the lifestyle and metformin treatment.

If neither of the two choices works, experts recommend using basal insulin with a transition to intensive insulin if needed. The recommendations for the transitions in therapy occur at three month intervals, as in the original guidelines.

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