ELYRIA, Ohio — More than 38 million people in the U.S. are living with diabetes. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, it’s the eighth leading cause of death and is the number one cause of kidney failure, lower-limb amputations, and adult blindness.
“Diabetes is a worldwide epidemic,” said University Hospitals Preventive Cardiologist Dr. Claire Sullivan. “Unfortunately, it’s something that so many Americans struggle with.”
There’s an effort to improve the quality of life and health for patients through the UH CINEMA program.
According to UH, “adults with metabolic disease, or diabetes, are two to four times more likely to die from heart disease than adults without diabetes.”
CINEMA focuses on patients with pre-diabetes or diabetes and who are at high risk of cardiovascular disease and chronic kidney disease.
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“It is a multidisciplinary clinic, so a group of us as cardiologists, as well as a team of dedicated nurses, nutritionists, diabetic educators and a pharmacist who really look at a patient from a big picture perspective,” said Sullivan. “Somebody who has impaired blood sugar control, why they have mortality, why they die, is most times cardiac related.
Sullivan said working on blood sugar control and risk factors can help reduce the likelihood of having a cardiac event. The program offers education, fitness and added support to patients.
Jennifer Warrwick, 48, of Elyria has found success. Since starting the program, her cardiovascular risk factors have improved.
“Once they put me on the diabetes medications and things like that, my life just started changing,” she said. “Everything just changed, my health got better, I felt healthier.”
Warwick said she’s down 120 pounds; she’s using a continuous glucose monitor and a GLP-1 medication, Maunjaro.
“That class of medication is not just a blood sugar medication anymore, it really blurs the line of being a medicine that does all kinds of things,” said Sullivan. “It does reduce cardiovascular risk. It is a medicine that works on blood sugar control, but also works on many different levels of hormones in the system.”
There are side effects to these medications, and they aren't for everyone, said Sullivan.
Warrwick’s dad died in a crash in 2005. He had type 1 diabetes.
“These kind of things were not around when my dad wad diabetic, and if they had been around, his life would have been different,” she said. “I’m grateful that they’re around now because it can help everybody else that’s out there.”
Her husband has also lost weight. They’re looking forward to spending more time traveling.
“We see a brighter future now and we have more plans to do things…eventually we want go get an RV,” she said.
