Southern Nevada doctors support new effort to fight diabetes

Some Southern Nevada doctors back a new national effort to make a standard test part of routine physical examinations to help combat the incidence of type 2 diabetes.

The American Medical Association and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Thursday launched a new effort aimed at combating the debilitating chronic disease, unveiling the website preventdiabetes.org with toolkits for health care professionals and the public. Type 2 diabetes affects more than 29 million people in the United States, according to the CDC’s latest numbers, and it could affect 86 million more Americans in coming years.

“This has a great deal of potential. A lot of people have symptoms and don’t realize it,” said Dr. Carl Williams, a Las Vegas plastic surgeon and wound care specialist. “Especially among younger generations who are very tech savvy, the incidence of obesity has gone through the roof. Many people don’t realize that if they’re obese, they can develop diabetes at a very young age.”

Identifying those people at an earlier age could help them adopt lifestyle and diet choices to prevent diabetes or take measures to avoid peripheral vascular disease and other complications if they do become diabetic.

Williams advocates having a fasting blood glucose test, a diagnostic tool to screen for diabetes, as part of a routine physical examination. High blood sugar might not cause diabetic symptoms in the early stages.

“Even though the tendency has been toward performing fewer labs, the higher frequency of diabetes means that should be part of the routine,” Williams said.