Counseling of Diabetics Suboptimal

Although excess body weight is a risk factor for cardiovascular disease among type 2 diabetics, only half of these patients receive counseling about weight loss during routine doctor visits, according to a report in the Archives of Internal Medicine.This creates a patient education opportunity for pharmacists.

Medical University of South Carolina researchers made the finding by analyzing data on 9,496 adults with diabetes mellitus and 150,493 adults without the disease. The investigators considered counseling to have occurred if, during the previous year, an individual reported that a physician or other health care professional talked to them about weight loss, exercise, eating foods with less fat or cholesterol, or smoking cessation.

Among subjects with a body mass index (BMI) of 25 kg/m(2)or higher, 49.8% of those with diabetes reported receiving counseling about weight loss, compared with 20.8% of those without diabetes. A BMI of 25.0 to 29.9 kg/m(2)is considered overweight, and a BMI of 30 to 39.9 kg/m(2)is considered obese.