Bone

Risk of osteoporosis is linked with ulcerative colitis and age. McLaughlin and colleagues studied 53 patients ≥50 years of age who had undergone restorative proctocolectomy (RPC) and a BMD scan. They observed osteopenia and osteoporosis in 43.4% and 13.2% of patients, respectively, and found that age at RPC negatively correlated with BMD. The investigators suggest patients over 50 years of age who undergo RPC should be screened for osteoporosis.

Diabetes

Diabetic nephropathy is prevented using American Diabetes Association (ADA)-recommended treatment targets. Tu et al. enrolled a cohort of 1,290 patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus and normoalbuminuria from an Asian population and ensured patients received intensive treatment to meet ADA targets. They found a significant association between achievement of ADA goals for HbA1c, systolic blood pressure and HDL cholesterol and the development of new-onset microalbuminuria.

Obesity

Intensive treatments from primary care general practitioners successfully manage extreme obesity and weight-loss maintenance. Ryan and colleagues randomly allocated 597 volunteers with obesity in the Louisiana Obese Subjects Study to receive either intensive medical intervention (IMI) or usual care condition (UCC). Participants who received IMI, which included a strict diet, counseling and pharmacotherapy, had a greater weight loss after 2 years than those who received UCC and used an internet weight-management program.

Community-wide interventions in early childhood can reduce obesity and improve healthy eating in young children. De Silva-Sanigorski et al. studied the effectiveness of the Romp & Chomp program conducted between 2004 and 2008 in Australia. The program had a target group of 12,000 children and the researchers found that using multisetting, multistrategy interventions significantly lowered BMI, obesity prevalence and poor diet choices in children aged 2.0–3.5 years.