Diabetes remission rates increase in recent years

A new study from the Scottish Diabetes Research Network (SDRN) found that one in 20 people with type 2 diabetes achieves remission, which is a rate much higher than in previous years. 

Of the 34 million Americans with diabetes (about 1 in every 10 people), approximately 90 to 95 percent of them are Type 2. Type 2 diabetes is a chronic condition that develops from insulin resistance, which leads to high blood sugar. 

Type 2 diabetes has also been tied to various other health complications, including heart disease, vision loss and kidney disease. In 2019, diabetes was the ninth leading cause of death with an estimated 1.5 million deaths solely from diabetes.

Due to increasingly sedentary lifestyles, the number of people living with diabetes worldwide is projected to increase by 51 percent in 2045. 

Research has shown that type 2 diabetes can be reversed in the body, with treatments such as  bariatric surgeries, including gastric bypass and gastric banding, and low calorie diets. 

However, it is difficult to gauge how many people are able to successfully achieve such a reversal because hundreds of millions of diabetic people are unaware they have the condition. 

The SDRW study found that a large proportion of people with type 2 diabetes achieved remission in routine care, without undergoing bariatric surgery and prior to the introduction of very-low-calorie interventions.

The researchers accessed a national Scottish diabetes registry that contained data for over 99.5% of people with a diagnosis of the condition in the country. 

They identified 162,316 individuals over the age of 30 with type 2 diabetes, as measured by the glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c) readings that deemed the amount of glucose in their blood as within the diabetic range. 

During the 3-month study window, a total of 7,710 people, or 5 percent, went into remission, with their HbA1c reading dropping below the diabetic range. 

"This rate is higher than expected and indicates a need for updated guidelines to support clinicians in recognizing and supporting these individuals," said Mireille Captieux, a clinical diabetes researcher at the University of Edinburgh.

Historically, type 2 diabetes has been considered a chronic, progressive disease, meaning there is no cure and symptoms usually worsen over time. 

However, recent studies suggest the possibility of remission while previous research showed that less than three in 1,000 people with the disease achieve remission.

Individuals who were more likely to go into remission were older, had lost weight and had no history of glucose-lowering therapy or bariatric surgery.

“Understanding how many individuals are in remission as well as their characteristics and following their progress could lead to improved initiatives to help others achieve it,” Captieux said.