Regular screening can detect heart disease and diabetes earlier

Measuring waist circumference, blood pressure, cholesterol, blood lipids, and blood glucose levels during doctor visits can help detect heart disease and diabetes earlier, according to a clinical practice guideline published today. by the Endocrine Society.

The guideline entitled "Primary Prevention of ASVVD and T2DM in Patients with Metabolic Risk: A Clinical Practice Guideline from the Society of Endocrinology" was published online and will be published in the following section. printed edition of September 2019 the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism (JCEM), a publication of the Endocrine Society.

The five risk factors for heart disease and diabetes are: a large amount of abdominal fat, low HDL ("good") cholesterol, high levels of blood fat called triglycerides, high blood pressure, and blood sugar. high. Patients with at least three of these factors present a metabolic risk (higher risk of heart disease and diabetes). The guideline recommends that patients with at least three risk factors be screened regularly and submitted to one or two risk factors every three years. This adds to the badessment of risk factors for cardiovascular diseases such as "bad" cholesterol, smoking, and family history.

The Endocrine Society's original guideline on this topic was published in 2008. This revision takes a fresh look at metabolic risk and presents recommendations reflecting more recent blood pressure and lipid testing data. The guideline prioritizes lifestyle and behavioral interventions and addresses new options for medical treatment. The guideline is for adults aged 40 to 75, but can also be used to guide patients outside this age range.

"Doctors have not done enough to measure waist circumference, but it's critical to identify earlier patients at metabolic risk and prevent more heart disease and diabetes," said James. L. Rosenzweig, MD, of the Hebrew Rehabilitation Hospital of Boston, Mbadachusetts. Rosenzweig chaired the drafting committee that drafted the guideline. "We emphasize the importance of lifestyle, diet and behavior changes as a first-line treatment, however, drug treatment is appropriate if goals are not achieved with only changes in way of life."

Guideline recommendations include:

• Measure the waistline as part of the clinical examination.
• Check the blood pressure every year and, if it is high, at each subsequent visit.
• Give priority to lifestyle modification as a first-line treatment.
• Aim to lose 5% or more of your initial body weight in the first year in overweight individuals at risk of metabolism.
• In the course of the global badessment of the risk of coronary heart disease or atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease over 10 years to guide the use of medical or pharmacological treatment.
• Prescribe a lifestyle modification prior to pharmacotherapy in patients with prediabetes to reduce blood sugar levels.