Medtronic Engages Cardiologists in "World Diabetes Day"
Efforts Aim to Raise Awareness of Link Between Diabetes and Coronary Artery Disease
MINNEAPOLIS –– Oct. 24, 2012 –– Medtronic, Inc. is promoting its long-standing partnership with the International Diabetes Federation (IDF) through a new initiative surrounding “World Diabetes Day” on Nov. 14 that aims to engage interventional cardiologists worldwide in raising awareness of the connection between diabetes and coronary artery disease.
“Diabetes and coronary artery disease represent two of the most common and costly conditions confronting the global population, and they often occur in the same people,”
explained Martin Rothman, MD, vice president of medical affairs for Medtronic’s coronary business and a professor of interventional cardiology at Barts Health in London. “In fact, decades of clinical and epidemiological research show a predictive link between the two. Approximately one-third of patients who present in cardiac catheterization laboratories for coronary artery disease also have diabetes, which creates myriad challenges that can adversely affect clinical outcomes.”
To support World Diabetes Day, Medtronic’s coronary business will:
• Distribute educational information that highlights the correlation and impact of diabetes on coronary artery disease.
• Educate cath lab staff about the unique challenges these two diseases present in combination, as well as the treatment options available that are clinically validated for patients with diabetes.
• Engage interventional cardiologists to share their experiences with patients who have both diabetes and coronary artery disease with other clinicians and hospital administrators to build a common understanding of the unique challenges of this patient group.
Medtronic’s diabetes business and, separately, the Medtronic Foundation have long supported charitable diabetes organizations, including the IDF, with a combination of grants and donations totaling several million dollars in just the last few years. The initiative announced today involves Medtronic’s coronary business, which makes the first and only drug-eluting stent approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for the treatment of coronary artery disease in patients with diabetes.
In developing the Resolute Integrity drug-eluting stent, Medtronic collaborated with the FDA to study the device’s performance in patients with both coronary artery disease and diabetes. Based on the results, the Resolute Integrity drug-eluting stent became the first device of its kind to receive an FDA-approved indication for treating the coronary artery disease of patients with diabetes. The indication offers physicians a clinically validated drug-eluting stent for diabetes patients and promotes the practice of evidence-based medicine.
An estimated 366 million people worldwide, including nearly one in 10 adults, have diabetes, a chronic disease of inadequate insulin production or responsiveness that contributes to significantly higher rates of heart attack, stroke, renal failure and peripheral vascular disease.
Nearly three more people develop diabetes every 10 seconds. Based on the condition’s growing prevalence, researchers expect that 552 million people will be living with diabetes by 2030.
“Cardiovascular disease is the major cause of death in diabetes, accounting for some 50 percent of all diabetes fatalities,” said IDF President Jean Claude Mbanya. “Through partnerships with companies like Medtronic, we can reduce the impact of diabetes, which represents a global epidemic, compromising quality of life and compounding the financial challenges facing healthcare systems worldwide. The average hospital stay for a patient with diabetes is 50 percent longer than it is for a patient without diabetes, which accounted for an estimated $465 billion in global healthcare expenses last year alone.”
