Savvy Updates, 10/19/20: Tears for Non-invasive BG Testing, GET YOUR FLU SHOT!

It’s a slow D news week … but remember to Get Your Flu Shot!

Similar glycated albumin levels in tears, blood may allow noninvasive glucose testing was reported by Michael Monostra for Healio.com/endocrinology, 6 October 2020. Aihara and colleagues presented the findings at the European Association for the Study of Diabetes virtual meeting.

Glycated albumin levels found in the tears of individuals with diabetes strongly correlate with blood levels and suggest a mode for replacing finger stick and other invasive tests, according to study data.

Masakazu Aihara, MD, PhD, a project research associate at the University of Tokyo, said, “We focus on tears, which can be collected with noninvasive ways, and found that the glycated albumin levels in tears and blood had strong correlation. Since glycated albumin reflects 2-week average blood glucose levels, it does not need to be measured as frequently as self-monitoring and can be used in the same way as HbA1c tests.”

Diabetes and the Flu Shot During COVID-19 was reported by DiabetesMine.com, 14 October 2020.

Many diabetes doctors and care specialists are saying they’ve been getting more frequent questions from patients about flu shots this year due to the continuing COVID-19 pandemic.

Their answer: Getting the flu vaccine is more important than ever for people with diabetes (PWDs), because contracting the flu could weaken the immune system, leading to fluctuating and higher glucose levels — which puts us at elevated risk for COVID-19 and its effects on the body.

Surprisingly, stats show that the general public isn’t thinking about the flu as much as they ought to be. With that, some health experts describe the potential for a“twindemic” of both COVID-19 and flu in the United States this winter.

For PWDs, getting a flu shot is as critical as it’s ever been, says Davida Kruger, a nurse practitioner and diabetes care and education specialist (DCES) at Henry Ford Health System in Detroit, Michigan. “We do not want folks with diabetes to have to deal with anything more on top of everything else,” she said.