People with thyroid cancer who were asked to adjust their diet ahead of treatment, were confused about what they needed to do. The first UK study of these patients’ experiences found that many restricted their diet more and for longer than is advised. Some reported conflict or distress associated with the diet and were anxious ...

The impact of diabetes and the challenges it presents individual patients, their families and health services is a major issue of interest and concern. At present an estimated 3.5 million people in the UK have been diagnosed with diabetes but it is predicted that up to a further 549,00 people have diabetes that is yet ...

Sharing electronic records with patients with type 2 diabetes helped them to reduce their blood sugar levels. A new analysis of pooled data from 20 studies showed that sharing records improved patients' management of their condition. Some of the studies also found that sharing records was associated with reduced anxiety, cardiac symptoms and cholesterol levels ...

The way that dialysis is normally scheduled in hospitals leaves a gap that may be harmful to the health of kidney patients. If, in addition, patients miss a scheduled session, the risks of hospital admission or death increase dramatically. When someone’s kidneys are not working properly, waste products and fluid can build up to dangerous ...

A new severity scoring system for type 2 diabetes may be better at identifying patients at risk of declining health than the current commonly used blood test. The Diabetes Severity Score (DISSCO) is a computer algorithm that combines information routinely collected in primary care. Researchers found that a higher DISSCO score was linked to an ...

Shoes and insoles which are custom-made to relieve pressure on the foot could prevent ulcers in people with diabetes. Foot ulcers are a serious complication of the disease and can lead to amputation if they are not managed appropriately. Even a mild injury can cause a foot ulcer. Researchers wanted to identify design features of ...

One in two people diagnosed with type 2 diabetes already have damage to their eyes, kidneys or heart. That damage is more likely if they had problems with blood sugar control before being diagnosed. Diabetes causes damage to blood vessels, because of poorly-controlled levels of sugar in the blood. These damaged blood vessels can lead ...

Taking a glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor (GLP-1) agonist drug lowers the likelihood of having a stroke, heart attack or dying due to cardiovascular causes by 12%. The drugs give a similar 12% reduction in overall mortality. They do not increase the risk of heart failure, very low blood sugar levels or pancreatic disease. Diabetes causes one ...

In My Signals, health and social care staff and service users tell us what research is important to them and why they feel others need to know about it. In this collection, we asked seven members of the public to tell us which Signals have interested them most and explain why they feel the findings ...

People who lose at least 10% of their body weight in the first year after being diagnosed with type 2 diabetes increase their chances of being in remission after five years, compared with those whose weight remains stable. Losing this achievable amount of weight over the next four years also makes remission more likely. In ...