Preventing Cardiovascular Complications of Type 2 Diabetes: Focus on Lipid Management
- Robert R. Henry, MD
Abstract
IN BRIEF
Because type 2 diabetes can be considered a cardiovascular disease in its own right, current American Diabetes Association and National Cholesterol Education Program guidelines recommend aggressive treatment of dyslipidemia in people with diabetes, particularly for elevated LDL cholesterol levels. Use of appropriate treatment as determined by the pattern of lipid abnormalities can substantially reduce the risk of macrovascular disease. Institution of tight glycemic control will be beneficial to most patients, but the majority of people with diabetes will also require diet therapy, weight reduction when necessary, and intensive lipid-lowering therapy, which commonly involves one of the statins or fibric acid derivatives.
Footnotes
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Robert R. Henry, MD, is chief of the Section of Diabetes, Endocrinology & Metabolism at the VA San Diego Health Care System and a professor of medicine at the University of California–San Diego.
Note of disclosure: Dr. Henry has received honoraria for speaking engagements from Pfizer Pharmaceuticals, Merck Pharmaceuticals, Takeda Pharmaceuticals, and Glaxo Smith Kline Pharmaceuticals. He has received research funding from Pfizer, Takeda, and Glaxo Smith Kline and is a stock shareholder in Glaxo Smith Kline and Merck. Pfizer, Merck, and Glaxo Smith Kline are manufacturers of lipid-lowering agents, and Takeda manufactures a thiazolidinedione.
- American Diabetes Association
