KARACHI: Guidelines for the management of type 2 diabetes and cardio-metabolic syndrome were released at a meeting hosted by the Pakistan Endocrine Society (PES) on Saturday.

The meeting was attended by leaders and professionals from the medical field, including endocrinologists and cardiologists, and media personnel.

Speaking at the event, PES president Prof Khurshid Ahmad Khan said the society had developed guidelines for the first time and was launching 11 recommendations and 10 chapters for medical practitioners on issues for the management of diabetes mellitus and cardio-metabolic syndrome.

The guidelines development committee included Prof Khurshid A. Khan, Prof Abdul Basit, Prof A.H. Aamir, Dr Ali Asghar, Prof Bilal Bin Younus, Dr Muhammad Imtiaz, Dr Ibrar Ahmed, Prof Khadija Irfan, Dr Musarat Riaz, Prof Saeed A. Mahar, Dr Syed Abbas Raza, Dr Tasnim Ahsan and Dr Zaman Shaikh.

“These guidelines are based on available local data along with scientific evidence available internationally,” Prof Khan said.

Special consideration was focused on the affordability and availability of the medicines in Pakistan. These guidelines would bring uniformity in medical practice in the country, he added.

According to experts, special emphasis has been given by the committee to developing the concept of a multidisciplinary team for the management of the disease with key focus on nutrition, physical activity and awareness in these guidelines.

Type 2 diabetes, they said, was a pertinent issue in middle- and low-income countries with profound consequences that could impact society as a whole.

Pakistan is ranked fourth globally in terms of prevalence of diabetes and has an estimated prevalence of 90.4 million people diagnosed with the disease, according to the 2019 data.

Published in Dawn, December 20th, 2020