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This study investigated the overall status of diabetes control and screening for diabetic microvascular complications in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus attending primary care clinics in Korea.
In this cross-sectional observational study, 191 primary care clinics were randomly selected across Korea from 2015 to 2016. In total, 3,227 subjects were enrolled in the study.
The patients followed at the primary care clinics were relatively young, with a mean age of 61.4±11.7 years, and had a relatively short duration of diabetes (mean duration, 7.6±6.5 years). Approximately 14% of subjects had diabetic microvascular complications. However, the patients treated at the primary care clinics had suboptimal control of hemoglobin A1c levels, blood pressure, and serum lipid levels, along with a metabolic target achievement rate of 5.9% according to the Korean Diabetes Association guidelines. The screening rates for diabetic nephropathy, retinopathy, and neuropathy within the past 12 months were 28.4%, 23.3%, and 13.3%, respectively.
The overall status of diabetes management, including the frequency of screening for microvascular complications, was suboptimal in the primary care clinics. More efforts should be made and more resources need to be allocated for primary care physicians to promote adequate healthcare delivery, which would result in stricter diabetes control and improved management of diabetic complications.
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Hyperglycemic crisis is a metabolic emergency associated with diabetes mellitus. However, accurate epidemiologic information on cases of hyperglycemic crisis in Korea remains scarce. We evaluated trends in hyperglycemic crisis hospitalizations and in- and out-of-hospital mortality in Korea. We also predicted future trends.
We extracted claims data with hyperglycemic crisis as the principal diagnosis from the National Health Insurance Service database in Korea from January 2004 to December 2013. We investigated the numbers of claims with hyperglycemic crisis and identified trends in hyperglycemic crisis based on those claims data. We predicted future trends by statistical estimation.
The total annual number of claims of hyperglycemic crisis increased from 2,674 in 2004 to 5,540 in 2013. Statistical analysis revealed an increasing trend in hyperglycemic crisis hospitalizations (
The number of hyperglycemic crisis hospitalizations in Korea increased in the last decade, although the hospitalization rate per 1,000 diabetes cases and mortality rate decreased. Also, the predicted number of annual claims will increase in the future. Thus, it is necessary to establish long-term healthcare policies to prevent hyperglycemic crisis.
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Ezetimibe-statin combination therapy has been found to reduce low density lipoprotein cholesterol levels and the risk of major adverse cardiovascular events (MACEs) in large trials. We sought to examine the differential effect of ezetimibe on MACEs when added to statins according to the presence of diabetes.
Randomized clinical trials with a sample size of at least 50 participants and at least 24 weeks of follow-up that compared ezetimibe-statin combination therapy with a statin- or placebo-controlled arm and reported at least one MACE, stratified by diabetes status, were included in the meta-analysis and meta-regression.
A total of seven trials with 28,191 enrolled patients (mean age, 63.6 years; 75.1% men; 7,298 with diabetes [25.9%]; mean follow-up, 5 years) were analysed. MACEs stratified by diabetes were obtained from the published data (two trials) or through direct contact (five trials). No significant heterogeneity was observed among studies (
Ezetimibe-statin combination therapy was associated with greater cardiovascular benefits in patients with diabetes than in those without diabetes. Our findings suggest that ezetimibe-statin combination therapy might be a useful strategy in patients with diabetes at a residual risk of MACEs.
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A recent animal study showed that parathyroid hormone-related peptide (PTHrP) is associated with cancer cachexia by promoting adipose tissue browning, and we previously demonstrated that PTHrP predicts weight loss (WL) in patients with cancer. In this study, we investigated whether prediction of WL by PTHrP is influenced by clinical factors such as serum albumin, corrected calcium levels, cancer stage, and performance status (PS).
A cohort of 219 patients with cancer whose PTHrP level was measured was enrolled and followed for body weight (BW) changes. Subjects were divided into two groups by serum albumin (cutoff value, 3.7 g/dL), corrected calcium (cutoff value, 10.5 mg/dL), cancer stage (stage 1 to 3 or 4), or PS (Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group 0 to 1 or 2 to 4), respectively. Clinically significant WL was defined as either percent of BW change (% BW) <−5% or % BW <−2% plus body mass index (BMI) <20 kg/m2.
After a median follow-up of 327 days, 74 patients (33.8%) experienced clinically significant WL. A positive PTHrP level was associated with a 2-fold increased risk of WL after adjusting for age, baseline BMI, serum albumin, corrected calcium level, cancer stage, and PS. The effect of PTHrP on WL remained significant in patients with low serum albumin, stage 4 cancer, and good PS. Regardless of calcium level, the effect of PTHrP on WL was maintained, although there was an additive effect of higher calcium and PTHrP levels.
Early recognition of patients with advanced cancer who are PTHrP positive with hypercalcemia or hypoalbuminemia is needed for their clinical management.
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Although the beneficial effects of statin treatment in dyslipidemia and atherosclerosis have been well studied, there is limited information regarding the renal effects of statins in diabetic nephropathy. We aimed to investigate whether, and which, statins affected renal function in Asian patients with diabetes.
We enrolled 484 patients with diabetes who received statin treatment for more than 12 months. We included patients treated with moderate-intensity dose statin treatment (atorvastatin 10 to 20 mg/day or rosuvastatin 5 to 10 mg/day). The primary outcome was a change in estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) during the 12-month statin treatment, and rapid renal decline was defined as a >3% reduction in eGFR in a 1-year period.
In both statin treatment groups, patients showed improved serum lipid levels and significantly reduced eGFRs (from 80.3 to 78.8 mL/min/1.73 m2 for atorvastatin [
These results suggest that a moderate-intensity dose of atorvastatin has fewer detrimental effects on renal function than that of rosuvastatin.
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The aim of this study was to investigate the prevalence of obesity in Korean men with Klinefelter syndrome (KS) and the associated risk factors for obesity and hyperglycemia.
Data were collected retrospectively from medical records from 11 university hospitals in Korea between 1994 and 2014. Subjects aged ≥18 years with newly diagnosed KS were enrolled. The following parameters were recorded at baseline before treatment: chief complaint, height, weight, fasting glucose level, lipid panel, blood pressure, testosterone, luteinizing hormone, follicle-stimulating hormone, karyotyping patterns, and history of hypertension, diabetes, and dyslipidemia.
Data were analyzed from 376 of 544 initially enrolled patients. The rate of the 47 XXY chromosomal pattern was 94.1%. The prevalence of obesity (body mass index ≥25 kg/m2) in Korean men with KS was 42.6%. The testosterone level was an independent risk factor for obesity and hyperglycemia.
Obesity is common in Korean men with KS. Hypogonadism in patients with KS was associated with obesity and hyperglycemia.
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Epidemiological data is useful to estimate the necessary manpower and resources used for disease control and prevention of prevalent chronic diseases. We aimed to evaluate the incidence of diabetes and identify its trends based on the claims data from the National Health Insurance Service database over the last decade.
We extracted claims data on diabetes as the principal and first additional diagnoses of National Health Insurance from January 2003 to December 2012. We investigated the number of newly claimed subjects with diabetes codes, the number of claims and the demographic characteristics of this population.
Total numbers of claimed cases and populations with diabetes continuously increased from 1,377,319 in 2003 to 2,571,067 by 2012. However, the annual number of newly claimed diabetic subjects decreased in the last decade. The total number of new claim patients with diabetes codes decreased as 30.9% over 2005 to 2009. Since 2009, the incidence of new diabetes claim patients has not experienced significant change. The 9-year average incidence rate was 0.98% and 1.01% in men and women, respectively. The data showed an increasing proportion of new diabetic subjects of younger age (<60 years) combined with a sharply decreasing proportion of subjects of older age (≥60 years).
There were increasing numbers of newly claimed subjects with diabetes codes of younger age over the last 10 years. This increasing number of diabetic patients will require management throughout their life courses because Korea is rapidly becoming an aging society.
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A clinical prediction model can be applied to several challenging clinical scenarios: screening high-risk individuals for asymptomatic disease, predicting future events such as disease or death, and assisting medical decision-making and health education. Despite the impact of clinical prediction models on practice, prediction modeling is a complex process requiring careful statistical analyses and sound clinical judgement. Although there is no definite consensus on the best methodology for model development and validation, a few recommendations and checklists have been proposed. In this review, we summarize five steps for developing and validating a clinical prediction model: preparation for establishing clinical prediction models; dataset selection; handling variables; model generation; and model evaluation and validation. We also review several studies that detail methods for developing clinical prediction models with comparable examples from real practice. After model development and vigorous validation in relevant settings, possibly with evaluation of utility/usability and fine-tuning, good models can be ready for the use in practice. We anticipate that this framework will revitalize the use of predictive or prognostic research in endocrinology, leading to active applications in real clinical practice.
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