Diabetes

Use of electronic health records 
improves medical outcomes among patients with diabetes, according to a recent study conducted by Kaiser Permanente.


PRINCETON, N.J. — Novo Nordisk has launched a mobile app for hemophilia patients, the drug maker said.

HemaGo — available for iPhone, iPad and Android devices — is designed to track hemophilia treatment, bleeding episodes and life events, helping people with the condition and their caregivers monitor the details of treatment, including medications, dosing, bleeding information and the disease's effects on life events.

SAN DIEGO — A study published last week by researchers from the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine has found a correlation between vitamin D3 serum levels and subsequent incidence of Type 1 diabetes. The six-year study of blood levels of nearly 2,000 individuals suggests a preventative role for vitamin D3 in this disease. The research appears the December issue of Diabetologia, a publication of the European Association for the Study of Diabetes.

DEERFIELD, Ill. — Walgreens and Take Care Clinics on Friday announced the offer of free health testing for hemoglobin A1C and blood glucose at more than 3,000 U.S. locations through the end of November as part of American Diabetes Month and the Walgreens Way to Well Commitment. 

CLEVELAND — People with diabetes in Cleveland enrolled in UnitedHealthcare employer-sponsored health plans can obtain free diabetes management services from Rite Aid, the retail pharmacy chain said Friday.

The chain's pharmacists are participating in the Diabetes Control Program, part of UnitedHealth Group's Diabetes Prevention and Control Alliance, which is aimed at addressing the problem of Type 2 diabetes and prediabetes.

NEW YORK — Walgreens and JDRF on Friday announced that Walgreens' community-based programs helped raise more than $1.3 million in 2012 for JDRF. The year marked the 21st anniversary of Walgreens' participation in JDRF's nationwide campaign to raise funds for research to put an end to diabetes.

During the month of July, as part of the Walgreens Way to Well Commitment, customers at more than 7,500 Walgreens stores could make donations of $1 or more at checkout. 

As more Americans join the ranks of diabetics, the opportunity to target these consumers at the shelf becomes more crucial. 


Retailers like Rite Aid are using pull-box displays that allow customers to physically handle a blood-glucose meter before they make that purchase decision. That kind of consumer engagement, evident throughout Rite Aid’s latest Wellness format store, for example, helps anchor diabetes as a front-end destination center. 


ST. LOUIS — People with diabetes often develop clogged arteries that cause heart disease, and new research at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis suggests that low vitamin D levels are to blame. In a study published Nov. 9 in the Journal of Biological Chemistry, the researchers reported that blood vessels are less like to clog in people with diabetes who get adequate vitamin D. But in patients with insufficient vitamin D, immune cells bind to blood vessels near the heart, then trap cholesterol to block those blood vessels.