Your gift can help lift the burden of
diabetes by supporting innovative, cross-disciplinary research—including funding for equipment, staff, and training programs—that will help millions of people by developing new and improved methods for diagnosing, treating, and preventing diabetes.
Every dollar for diabetes is essential in the face of disturbing trends:
- More than 20 million Americans have diabetes, a disease that affects all systems of the body by altering metabolism.
- One out of every four patients admitted to Barnes-Jewish Hospital has diabetes or medical complications resulting from diabetes, like stroke, blindness, and heart disease (a condition which nearly every diabetic, both type I and type II, develops).
- The incidence of young adults with type II diabetes is on the rise, and these patients will fight diabetes and its consequences for the rest of their lives.
Recent Diabetes Breakthroughs and Novel Research Supported by Gifts to the Barnes-Jewish Hospital Foundation:
Malaria Drug Reduces Complications
Laboratory research by Washington University physicians and scientists showed a small dose of the malaria drug chloroquine eased many symptoms of metabolic syndrome in mice, reducing blood pressure, decreasing hardening and narrowing of the arteries, and improving blood sugar tolerance.
This study led to a pilot clinical trial in human patients.
Preventing Recurrence of Depression
A team of researchers at Washington University School of Medicine found that an antidepressant medication may reduce the risk of recurrent depression in patients with diabetes.
“That’s important not only because people with diabetes will feel better if we can control their depression. It’s also key to helping manage blood sugar,” says Patrick Lustman, PhD, principal investigator and professor of psychiatry. “As depression improves, glucose levels also tend to improve.”