CL-October 2024 - 21

HEALTHY TAKE
Going After
Diabetes in
a New Way
New 'precision medicine' could
improve care globally
story courtesy of UVA Health
A
University of
Virginia School
of Medicine
expert and his colleagues
say there is a tremendous
opportunity for " precision
medicine " to transform
diabetes care worldwide.
Still, it will require
bold new thinking and
significant investments.
In a commentary in the
UVA's Stephen S. Rich,
scientific journal Nature
Medicine, UVA's Stephen
S. Rich, Ph.D., and other
leaders in the battle
against diabetes detail an
international effort to improve diabetes
care and outline the challenges that
effort must overcome. They note that
diabetes - particularly type 2 diabetes
- is a far more complex and diverse
disease than many people assume, with
huge variations in its causes and effects
and in patients' responses to treatment.
Precision medicine aims to account
Ph.D., is a key architect of
new precision guidelines
that aim to improve
diabetes care worldwide.
Precision medicine is a potential new way to improve diabetes care.
intelligence in clinical care and ensuring
that patients in lower-income countries
are included.
" There is a global epidemic of
for all those variables, and more, in
order to improve diabetes care and
help patients live healthier lives. For
example, true precision medicine would
incorporate people's lifestyles, diet,
environment, behavior and other factors
to determine the best treatment options
for each individual.
But scientists say, doctors and
scientists need to develop more
nuanced understanding of the disease's
subtypes and identify new biological
markers of those subtype. Other urgent
needs include implementing artificial
co-opliving.com
diabetes, particularly type 2 diabetes,
that reflects the interaction of genetic
susceptibility with a Westernized
lifestyle, including a poor diet and
physical inactivity that leads to insulin
resistance through apparently multiple
biological pathways, " says Rich, of
UVA's newly formed Department of
Genome Sciences.
The international group of
investigators has already reached
some important conclusions in an
initial meeting. These include that
there is widespread interest and
investment around the world in better
understanding the many variations, or
" heterogeneity, " in diabetes; there are
important opportunities to leverage
existing data about the disease and great
need for more data on non-Europeans;
and there is an urgent need to address
the many research gaps that stand in
the way of improving care for people
around the world.
While some of the challenges are
daunting, particularly on a global scale,
Rich and his colleagues say that they
can be overcome " if the global medical
and scientific communities embrace
this shiſt toward a precision medicine
approach for people living with diabetes,
regardless of who they are or where
they live. "
Rich's group members expect their
work to take 18 months to two years.
But they hope it will ultimately have
long-lasting and far-reaching patient
benefits everywhere. Rich says, " We have
found that each country represented in
the group recognizes the importance
of heterogeneity in diabetes, and all
are undertaking research to implement
a precision medicine and a precision
health approach. "
*
October 2024 * Cooperative Living * 19
PHOTOS COURTESY UVA HEALTH
http://www.co-opliving.com
CL-October 2024

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