Diabetes care
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The prevalence of depression and depressive symptoms is increased twofold in people with type 2 diabetes compared with the general population and is associated with worse biomedical outcomes and increased mortality. Type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and depression in nondiabetes subjects are independently associated with raised concentrations of circulating inflammatory markers, but it is not known if a similar association is observed in type 2 diabetes. We tested the hypothesis that higher depressive symptom scores in newly diagnosed type 2 diabetes patients were associated with higher concentrations of inflammatory markers. ⋯ Increased inflammation may be involved in the pathogenesis of depressive symptoms in type 2 diabetes and contribute to the increased risk of complications and mortality in this group.
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To determine whether regional variation in the rate of lower-extremity amputation (LEA) is associated with health behaviors. ⋯ LEA is known to vary by region in the U.S., and regions with higher rates of LEA tend to be clustered together. Some of this variation may be explained by health behaviors in those regions, such as attending diabetes education classes or better health prevention habits (e.g., colon cancer screening). It should be possible to prevent unwanted LEAs by educating individuals with diabetes and foot ulcers about the need for participation in foot ulcer treatment.