Diabetes Flashcards
What is gestational diabetes?
- Placental progesterone and hPL produce insulin resistance in the mother, meaning more nutrients diverted to foetus
- If mother is insulin resistant before pregnancy, developing further insulin resistance will raise blood glucose too high and result in gestational diabetes
What are complications associated with T1/T2DM and pregnancy?
- Congenital malformation
- Prematurity
- Intra-uterine growth retardation (IUGR)
What are the complications associated with gestational diabetes and pregnancy?
- Macrosomia (>90th centile for size, birth weight >4kg)
- Maternal hypoglycaemia is transferred across the placenta, resulting in foetal hyperglycaemia
- This causes foetal hyperinsulinemia - insulin is a MAJOR growth factor
- After birth, the baby takes a while to downregulate the hyperinsulinemia which puts the baby at risk of neonatal hypoglycaemia
- Problems with delivery
- Polyhydramnios
- Intrauterine death
What are the complications in neonate with diabetes?
- Respiratory distress due to immature lungs
- Hypoglycaemia/hypocalcaemia → fits
- CNS defects - anencephaly, spina bifida
- Skeletal abnormalities - caudal regression syndrome
- Genital and GI abnormalities - ureteric duplications
What is the management of T1 and T2DM in pregnancy?
- Pre-pregnancy counseling
- Good sugar control pre conception to limit risk of congenital malformation
- Folic acid 5mg (not 400ug as in non-DM pregnancy) at least 3 months prior to conception
- Consider change from tablets to insulin as some T2DM oral medications are contraindicated in pregnancy
- Regular eye checks (10, 20, 30 weeks gestation) to check for any accelerated retinopathy
- Avoid ACEi and probably avoid statins
- For BP use labetalol, nifedipine, methyldopa
- Start aspirin 150mg at 12 weeks (as in all high risk pregnancies)
- Reduces the risk of pregnancy-induced hypertension
What is the general management of T1, T2DM and GDM in pregnancy?
- Diabetic diet
- Aim for good blood sugar control
- Pre meal <4-5.5 mmol
- 2 hr post meal <6-6.5 mmol/l
- Use continuous glucose monitoring
- Monitor HbA1c
- Monitor BP
- Maintian glood blood glucose during labour - IV insulin and IV dextrose
What is the pharmacological management of T1DM in pregnancy?
- Insulin
- May require increased dose
What is the pharmacological management of T2DM in pregnancy?
- Metformin
- Will probably need insulin later
- If patients are on many drugs for T2DM it is better to convert to insulin prior to pregnancy rather than trying to convert during pregnancy
What is the pharmacological management of GDM in pregnancy?
- Lifestyle
- Metformin
- May need insulin
What is the management and monitoring available afterbirth for mothers who had GDM ?
- 6 week post natal fasting glucose or GTT to ensure resolution of DM
- If the diabetes persists, patient has T2DM
- <5% of patients with GDM will go on to develop T1DM
- In thin patients with GDM check GAD antibodies
- 50% of patients with GDM will develop T2DM 10-15 years after pregnancy
What are the prevention measures of diabetes after GDM?
- Keep weight as low as possible
- Healthy diet e.g. low refined sugar, low saturated fat
- Aerobic exercise
- May consider starting on drug treatment at this stage but as evidence for lifestyle changes is stronger this is rarely done
- Annual fasting glucose
What is T1DM?
Autoimmune destruction of the pancreatic beta cells resulting in beta cell deficiency and therefore absolute insulin deficiency.
What is the aetiology of T1DM?
- Type 1 diabetes is subdivided into 1A (immune mediated) and 1B (non-immune mediated)
- Type 1A accounts for the vast majority of T1DM patients and involves an environmental trigger in a genetically susceptible individual mediated by an auto-immune process within the pancreatic β-cell
- A ‘slow-burning’ variant of type 1A with slower progression to insulin deficiency occurs in later life and is termed latent autoimmune disease in adults (LADA)
- Type 1B (idiopathic) involves patients with permanent insulinopenia and who are prone to DKA but have no evidence of β-cell dysfunction or autoantibodies
- Accounts for a minority of patients with T1DM (~5%)
- Most patients are of African or Asian ancestry
- Strongly inherited and not HLA associated
What are the risk factors for T1DM?
- peak around 10-14 years and a small peak in late 30s (LADA)
- HLA genes represent ~50% of familial risk of T1DM (DR3-DQ2 and DR4-DQ8)
- If both patients have HLA alleles risk of offspring developing diabetes is 30%
- Strong environmental contribution - only 5% of those with susceptible HLA genes develop DM
- Maternal factors - gestational infection and older age
- viral infections - enteroviruses such as Coxsackie B4
- Environmental toxins e.g., alloxan
- childhood obesity
- psychological stress
What is the pathophysiology of T1DM?
- Genetic susceptibility
- Environmental trigger (often associated with previous viral infection)
- T-cell mediated autoimmune response with production of autoantibodies that target and destroy beta cells. Insulitis visible on beta cell biopsy with lymphocytic infiltrate
- Absolute insulin deficiency → elevated blood glucose levels.
What is the clinical presentation of T1DM?
- usually, acute onset
- polydipsia
- polyuria
- thrush
- weakness, fatigue
- blurred vision
- infections
- severe weight loss
What are the investigations for T1DM?
- Fasting glucose ≳7.0 mmol/l with symptoms, if asymptomatic repeat test OR
- Random glucose ≳11.1 mmol/l with symptoms, if asymptomatic repeat test
- Often T1DM is diagnosed on positive findings as above, history and presentation (e.g. DKA) but if in doubt GAD/IA2 antibodies and C peptide may help
- HbA1c not used in diagnosis of T1DM but is used to monitor disease after diagnosis
What is the pharmacological management of T1DM?
Insulin:
- usually basal (long acting once daily) bolus (short-acting with meals) regimen which aims to mimic normal endogenous insulin production.
- Most people should be treated with MDI (3-4x injections per day or CSII
- Most people with T1DM should use insulin analogues to reduce hypoglycaemia risk
- Rotate injection site to avoid lipohypertrophy
What are the non-pharmacological managements of T1DM?
Education and Self-monitoring:
- patients should have a method of self-monitoring their blood glucose and also have access to a ketone monitor
- most people should be educated how to match prandial insulin dose to carbohydrate intake, pre-meal glucose and anticipated activity as weel as sick day rules
- regular DSN and dietician contact
What are the surgical management for T1DM?
Islet Transplantation:
- pancreatic islets harvested from cadavers and then are injected into the portal vein where they seed themselves in the liver
- typically reserved for those with episodes of severe hypoglycaemia, severe and progressive long-term complications and uncontrolled diabetes despite maximal treatment.
- the goal of treatment is to prevent severe hypoglycaemia but about 50-70% of people receiving islet cell transplants also achieve insulin independence after 5 years.
Whole-pancreas transplantation:
- most often undertaken in people with T1DM and end-stage kidney disease at the same time as a kidney transplant.
- pancreas transplant may be performed after a kidney transplant or alone.
- Indications - severe hypoglycaemia/metabolic complications, incapacitating clinical or emotional problems.
What is the review/monitoring available for T1DM?
Annual Review Assessment:
- weight
- blood pressure
- bloods - HbA1c, renal function and lipids
- retinal screening
- foot risk assessment
- record severe hypoglycaemic episodes or admission with DKA.
What is insulin resistance?
The reduced ability of organs to respond to ‘physiological’ insulin levels, thought to primarily occur through reduced insulin sensing and/or signalling
What is the aetiology of insulin resistance?
- Insulin resistance is most commonly associated with obesity, however near complete absence of adipose also results in insulin resistance
- Normal adipose functionality should be considered a key mediator of insulin sensitivity (rather than fat being considered an antagonist of insulin action)
- There are also some genetic forms of insulin resistance
What is the pathophysiology of insulin resistance?
- Different tissues will have different mechanisms of insulin resistance
- In skeletal muscle, insulin resistance is caused by impairment of insulin signalling
- FFAs decreases insulin receptor tyrosine kinase which decreases the activation of downstream proteins
- End result is that GLUT4 does not get translocated to the skeletal muscle cell membrane, so it is unable to take up glucose into the cell
- In adipose tissue, insulin resistance is caused by obesity-induced inflammation as adipose tissue secretes pro-inflammatory cytokines e.g. TNF-⍺
- Cytokines can move into other tissues e.g. liver, skeletal muscle to cause systemic resistance
- Liver: pathway-selective hepatic insulin resistance
- Hepatic lipogenesis remains elevated in insulin-resistant subjects - insulin signalling to glucose metabolism is impaired so glucose uptake is reduced, but insulin signalling to lipid metabolism is intact
- The increased lipogenesis is caused by the increase of FFAs seen in obesity which allows VLDL secretion to increase
What is Leprechaunism (Donohue Syndrome)?
- Rare autosomal genetic trait involving mutations in the insulin receptor
- Severe insulin resistance and developmental abnormalities e.g. growth retardation, abscence of SC fat, caused by defects in insulin binding or insulin receptor signalling
What is Rabson Medenhall Syndrome?
- Rare autosomal recessive trait which presents with severe insulin resistance, hyperglycaemia and compensatory hyperinsulinaemia
- Other clinical features include developmental abnormalities and acanthosis nigricans
- Patients have fasting hypoglycaemia (due to hyperinsulinaemia)
- Patients are very prone to diabetic ketoacidosis
- Severe cases linked to mutations in the insulin receptor that reduce sensitivity
What are the investigations for insulin resistance?
- Risk factors can be reviewed by heath providers
- If at risk, blood glucose levels should be checked for pre-diabetes/diabetes
- The hyperinsulinemic-euglycemic clamp is the gold standard for the measurement of insulin sensitivity
What are the risk factors for insulin resistance?
- Overweight
- Physically inactive
- FHx of diabetes
- Genetics
- Race (African Americans, Hispanic/Latinos)
- PCOS
- Gestational diabetes
- High blood pressure
- Low HDL
- High blood triglyceride
- Heart disease
- Smoking
What is T2DM?
Results from a combination of insulin resistance and less severe insulin deficiency
What is the aetiology of T2DM?
- Accounts for 90-95% of diabetes
- Greatest prevalence is in lower and middle income countries
- T2DM is thought to be polygenic - contribution of environmental influences, usually the development of insulin resistance and obesity
What are the non-modifiable risk factors for T2DM?
- Usually occurs later in life (> 45 years)
- β-cell function declines with age
- Genetics - polygenetic disease with 400 genetic variants identified to date (‘common complex disease’)
- Ethnicity - individuals of South Asian, African and Afro-Carribean descent are at greater risk
What are the modifiable risk factors for T2DM?
- Obesity - 9 out of 10 people with T2DM are overweight/obese (BMI of 25 or above)
- Diet - high dietary fat, particularly saturated fat, red and processed meat, fried food, increased intake of white rice and sugary drinks
- Physical inactivity and sedentary behaviours
What is the pathophysiology of T2DM?
- Autoimmune destruction of the beta-cell does not occur
- Patients do not have any other known cause for their diabetes
- Ranges from predominantly insulin resistance with relative insulin deficiency to predominantly an insulin secretory defect with insulin resistance
What are the abnormalities of insulin action?
- Insulin action is diminished in T2DM through the development of insulin resistance
- Central obesity→ increasedplasma levels of free fatty acids→ impaired insulin-dependentglucose uptake into hepatocytes, myocytes and adipocytes
- Increasedtyrosine kinaseactivity in liver, fat andskeletal musclecells→ decreased activation of downstream proteins → decreasedexpression of GLUTchannels→ decreasedcellular glucose uptake
- Insulin resistance occurs in genetically susceptible individuals due to modifiable lifestyle related factors
- Insulin resistance occurs when fat can no longer be stored in subcutaneous adipose tissue causing spill over of FFA to the viscera, which explains why not everyone with obesity develops diabetes
- People with ‘healthy’ obesity are able to safely store lots of fat, whereas others have a low fat storage threshold and these are the people who develop T2DM
What are the abnormalities of insulin secretion?
- As insulin resistance develops, the body’s response is to increase insulin secretion and so early T2DM is often associated with insulin hypersecretion
- An early sign is the loss of the first phase of the normal biphasic insulin secretion
- The compensatory increased insulin is still insufficient to restore glucose homeostasis, so hyperglycaemia persists
- Hyperglycaemia and the increased levels of FFAs and adipokines are toxic to the β-cells
- The hyperglycaemia and lipid excess damage the β-cells → decrease in insulin production
- People with increased genetic risk of T2DM have β-cells which are less able to cope with the lipotoxicity and glucotoxicity - another explanation for why not all obese people are diabetic
What is the clinical presentation of T2DM?
- gradual onset, majority of patients are asymptomatic
- symptoms of complications may be first clinical sign of disease
- when symptomatic → thirst, polyuria, blurred vision, weight loss, recurrent infections and tiredness
- acanthosis nigricans - insulin-driven epithelial growth seen in hyperinsulinemia states
What are the investigations and diagnosis of T2DM?
Symptomatic patients can be diagnosed on the basis of one positive result (but may wish to perform a second test to confirm)
In asymptomatic patients, the diagnosis of diabetes should never be based on a single abnormal HbA1c or fasting plasma glucose level. A last one additional abnormal HbA1c or plasma glucose level is essential.
Other:
- BP
- Ketones - if random blood glucose > 15mM
- cholesterol
- pancreatic autoantibodies
What is the pharmacological management of T2DM?
- Metformin + lifestyle management first line in all patients with T2DM
- Diabetic patients with atherosclerotic CVD (e.g. previous MI) should be given metformin + GLP-1 receptor antagonist
- Diabetic patients with heart failure or chronic kidney disease should be given metformin + an SGLT2i as first line (GLP-1 receptor antagonist second line)
- Others: DPP4i, SUs, TZDs,
What are the targets for T2DM?
- A target of HbA1c target of 7.0% (53 mmol/mol) among people with type 2 diabetes is reasonable to reduce the risk of microvascular and macrovascular disease
- Targets should be set with individuals in order to balance benefits with harms, in particular hypoglycaemia and weight gain
What are prevention measures for T2DM?
Weight loss in people BMI >30 reduces risk of developing T2DM significantly
What is MODY?
Early onset (usually before age 25) of non-insulin dependent diabetes
What is the aetiology of MODY?
- Single gene mutation (monogenetic) which is dominantly affected and predominantly affects β-cell function
- Most common form of monogenetic diabetes
What is the pathophysiology of MODY?
- Common clinical features to both type 1 and type 2 diabetes
- Genetic defective glucose sensing in the pancreas and/or loss of insulin secretion
- At least 150 different mutations (6 genes) have been identified
- 3 types of mutation:
-
Glucokinase (14%)
- Glucokinase activity impaired, resulting in a glucose sensing defect - blood glucose threshold for insulin secretion is increased
- Everything else about the β-cell is normal
-
Transcription factors (75%)
- The main transcription factor mutations are HNF-1⍺, HNF-1β, HNF-4⍺
- Play key roles in pancreas foetal development and neogenesis
- Also regulate β-cell differentiation and function - glycolytic flux, expression of GLUT2 transports, insulin secretion etc.
-
MODY X (11%)
- Unknown causative gene
-
Glucokinase (14%)
What is the presentation of MODY?
Glucokinase Mutations:
- onset at birth
- stable hyperglycaemia
Transcription factor mutations:
- adolescence/ Young adult onset
- progressive hyperglycaemia
What are the investigations for MODY?
Oral Glucose Tolerance Test:
- Patients with a glucokinase mutation will have a high fasting blood glucose (~7 mmol) but bring their glucose down very well when given oral challenge
- Patients with a transcription factor mutation will have a normal fasting blood glucose but don’t respond well to glucose challenge
Genetic Screening:
- Can be used to confirm type of mutation