T2DM Remission Reported for Almost 5 Percent of Adults in Scotland in 2019

WEDNESDAY, Nov. 3, 2021 (HealthDay News) — About 5 percent of adults aged 30 years and older in Scotland with type 2 diabetes were in remission in 2019, according to a study published online Nov. 2 in PLOS Medicine.

Mireille Captieux, M.B.Ch.B., M.P.H., from the University of Edinburgh in the United Kingdom, and colleagues conducted a cross-sectional study to estimate the prevalence of type 2 diabetes remission in adults in Scotland aged 30 years and older. Remission of type 2 diabetes was defined as all hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c) values <48 mmol/mol in the absence of glucose-lowering therapy for a continuous duration of ≥365 days before the last recorded HbA1c in 2019 and was assessed between Jan. 1 and Dec. 31, 2019. Data were included for 162,316 individuals, all of whom had at least one HbA1c value of ≥48 mmol/mol at or after type 2 diabetes diagnosis.

The researchers found that 7,710 people (4.8 percent) were in remission of type 2 diabetes. Factors associated with remission included age (odds ratio, 1.48 for ≥75 versus 45 to 54 years), HbA1c (odds ratio, 1.31 for <48 versus 48 to 52 mmol/mol at diagnosis), no previous history of glucose-lowering therapy (odds ratio, 14.6), weight loss from diagnosis to 2019 (odds ratio, 4.45 for ≥15 kg versus 0 to 4.9 kg weight gain), and previous bariatric surgery (odds ratio, 11.9).

“We have been able to show, for the first time, that one in 20 people in Scotland with type 2 diabetes achieve remission,” Captieux said in a statement. “This is higher than expected and indicates a need for updated guidelines to support clinicians in recognizing and supporting these individuals.”

Two authors disclosed financial ties to the pharmaceutical industry.

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