Publications by authors named "LAVERNIA F"

Ensuring equitable chronic kidney disease (CKD) education for Latine patients with low health literacy and low English proficiency stands as a critical challenge, and the "Caridad Awareness and Education" (CARE) initiative represents our ongoing effort to address this imperative issue. In collaboration with twenty-three patients living with CKD, diabetes and/or hypertension and twelve trained Community Health Workers (CHWs) from diverse Latine subgroups, we conducted a research initiative funded by the National Kidney Foundation. Our primary objective was to co-design and test culturally tailored patient education materials (PEMs) for underserved Latine adults at risk for or diagnosed with CKD.

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: Diabetes is a prevalent and growing problem in the United States (U.S.); primary care physicians need to be prepared to initiate and progressively advance treatment.

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Oral semaglutide is a tablet formulation of a glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonist (GLP-1RA), recently approved in the USA and other countries. This paper reviews data from clinical trials (PIONEER 1, 2, 3, and 7) comparing oral semaglutide (once-daily doses of 3, 7, or 14 mg) with either once-daily placebo, empagliflozin 25 mg, or sitagliptin 100 mg. After 26 weeks in PIONEER 1, patients randomized to 3, 7, or 14 mg doses of oral semaglutide monotherapy had statistically significant reductions in glycated hemoglobin (HbA ) of 0.

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Non-medical switching of medication, whereby a patient's treatment regimen is changed for reasons other than efficacy, side effects, or adherence, is often related to drug formulary changes aimed at reducing drug costs. In the era of health care reform, while cost-cutting measures are important, there is considerable evidence that non-medical switching, particularly when applied to medication used to treat chronic conditions such as diabetes, may impact patient outcomes, medication-taking behavior, and use of health care services. Ultimately, overall costs may be increased, as savings by insurers are cancelled out by higher costs to the health care system as a whole, such as extra administration, treatment failure from new medicines, and increased adverse events.

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Objective: Many healthcare providers in the U.S. are not familiar with follow-on biologics and biosimilars nor with their critical distinctions from standard generics.

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The management of type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) by primary care physicians (PCPs) has become increasingly complex due to limitations on consultation time, an increasing array of drug treatment options, and issues of comorbidities and polypharmacy. Diabetes is a progressive condition and treatment with a single glucose-lowering agent can only address limited pathophysiologic targets and does not provide adequate glycemic control in many cases. Consequently, most patients with T2DM will eventually require treatment with multiple glucose-lowering medications.

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Hypoglycemia is a condition known to disrupt many everyday activities and is associated with increased risks of hospitalization, falls, motor vehicle accidents and mortality. Many patients with diabetes have an increased risk of hypoglycemia due to interventions targeting glycemic control. In these patients, hypoglycemia and fear of hypoglycemia may further reduce adherence to glucose-lowering regimens, contributing to the further aggravation of diabetes-related complications.

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Insulin glargine 100 units/ml (Gla-100) has become a standard of care in diabetes treatment over the past decade, providing 24-h basal insulin coverage after once-daily subcutaneous injection for many people with diabetes, with a well-established efficacy and safety profile. New insulin glargine 300 units/ml (Gla-300) is a basal insulin that provides the same number of units as Gla-100 in a third of the volume. Compared with Gla-100, Gla-300 has shown more constant and prolonged pharmacokinetic (PK)/pharmacodynamic (PD) profiles.

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The incidence and prevalence of type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) have reached epidemic proportions in the United States. In addition to growing numbers of individuals in whom T2DM has been diagnosed, in numerous others T2DM or prediabetes remains undiagnosed or is likely to develop in the near future. Identification of individuals at risk for T2DM, as well as those who may already have the disease but in whom it has not yet been diagnosed, is a key element in reducing the overall burden of this disease.

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Several large studies in diabetes have shown that early initiation of intensive therapy is better for the prevention of long-term complications and suggest that patients with more advanced disease may be at increased risk of adverse cardiovascular events. Despite these findings, insulin initiation is often delayed in patients with type 2 diabetes, typically until A1C exceeds 8.5%.

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Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) is associated with an increased risk of cardiovascular complications. This increased risk is present even before the diagnosis of diabetes is made. Therefore, it is imperative that physicians are aware of risk factors for diabetes and actively screen high-risk patients and diagnose the condition as early as possible.

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Good control of diabetes provides meaningful microvascular risk reduction; yet, patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus commonly languish at unsatisfactory levels of glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c) for protracted periods. A variety of factors contribute to this clinical inertia, as clinicians tend to be too conservative in their treatment of patients who are not achieving glycemic control. Available clinical data suggest the near-maximal blood glucose reduction achievable with use of most antidiabetic agents typically occurs within several weeks of treatment initiation.

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Objective: This article describes a patient with type 2 diabetes mellitus achieving glycemic control after transitioning from premixed to basal-prandial insulin.

Methods: A case report illustrates the challenges of achieving glycemic control in type 2 diabetes, and results of a literature search regarding premixed and basal-prandial insulins are presented.

Results: A 52-year-old obese man with type 2 diabetes for 10 years initiated therapy with 2 oral antidiabetic drugs (OADs).

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Context: Intensive insulin therapy is recommended to control glucose elevations in the critically ill and has been shown to significantly improve outcomes among hospital inpatients with acute hyperglycemia or newly diagnosed diabetes. Once discharged, the hyperglycemic patient may require ongoing outpatient care, most often under the attention of a primary care physician.

Evidence Acquisition: The purpose of this review is to provide a background of in-hospital hyperglycemia management and discharge planning in preparation for continued outpatient care.

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