Big Topics for Diabetes Care in 2018: Clinical Guidelines, Costs of Diabetes, and Information Technology

Diabetes Care ’s editorial committee customarily presents a midyear report of activities and progress. At the midpoint of 2018 we can describe, in addition to a satisfying array of original scientific reports, important feature articles of current interest and a significant new initiative. In the first half of this year, the journal published several feature articles related to our core responsibility as a journal representing the American Diabetes Association (ADA). An update to the ADA’s “Standards of Medical Care in Diabetes” (Standards of Care [SOC]) appeared as a supplement to the January issue (1). The SOC is prepared by the Professional Practice Committee of the ADA and contains guidance on various aspects of care of those with or at risk for diabetes, together with summaries of published data supporting these statements. Because scientific information is accumulating faster than ever before, the ADA announced a new policy in the March 2018 issue (2). The yearly January supplement to Diabetes Care will continue as before, but the SOC will now be updated more frequently. The ADA now uses a web annotation tool to update and revise the online version throughout the year, whenever new evidence or regulatory changes merit immediate incorporation. Already in 2018 new information has been added regarding two medications recently approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (semaglutide and ertugliflozin) and an update on the definitions of hypoglycemia. Changes of this kind will be communicated by the ADA through its print, online, and social media channels. Additional consensus statements and commentaries on new or controversial topics will continue to appear in Diabetes Care . Unlike the SOC, they are not official guidance statements but generally reflect the ADA’s thinking. For example, a joint statement by representatives of the ADA and the European Association for the Study of Diabetes …