This 73-year-old female patient has suffered from type 2 diabetes (T2D), hypertension, and hyperlipidemua for over 20 years. She started taking Metformin in 1999 and ceased taking it on 1/7/2019. As of 4/3/2019, her HbA1C level was at 6.6%. Since 4/4/2019, she implemented a lifestyle management program which not only focuses on diet and exercise but also factors in sleep, stress, life routines and habits, as well as environmental factors. In this article, the author applies the final conclusions from the American Diabetes Association (ADA) 2021 consensus report regarding “T2D Remission”. For this clinical case, he analyzes the patient’s present conditions to determine if she satisfies the criteria of “T2D remission” or not. The defined criteria of “remission” include timespan of at least one year, HbA1C level less than 6.5%, fasting plasma glucose (FPG) level less than 126 mg/dL, and estimated HbA1C (eA1C) values based on the mean continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) glucose data less than 6.5%. In conclusion, according to the ADA 2021 consensus report, this female patient is in “remission” for T2D. In summary, over the past year from 9/5/2020 to 9/5/2021, her average lab-A1C is 6.3%, mean CGM FPG value is 102 mg/dL, and CGM eAG is 5.7%. First, the selected one year satisfies the timespan requirement cited in the 2021 consensus report. Her set of glucose data has been collected over ~3 years, after post-Metformin (started on 1/7/2019) and her initiation of lifestyle management program that began on 4/4/2019. Second, all of her A1C values, both lab-tested and CGM eA1C, are less than 6.5% and her mean CGM FPG level is less than 126 mg/dL. Finally, she keeps a regular routine with quarterly medical examinations to monitor various diabetes complications, including macrovascular, micro- vascular, neural, and hormonal systems. The author understands and agrees with the consensus report that diabetes is non-curable and at most is “controllable” or “partially reversible”. Nevertheless, this female patient has also adopted a similar lifestyle improvement program as the author in order to deal with the root causes of her multiple metabolic disorders, particularly T2D, instead of suppressing the external symptoms of diabetes through medication intervention.
2019 update to: Management of hyperglycaemia in type 2 diabetes, 2018. A consensus report by the American Diabetes Association (ADA) and the European Association for the Study of Diabetes (EASD)