Highlights from the 76th Scientific Sessions of the American Diabetes Association
Dr Caroline Day reports from the New Orleans meeting, June 10–14, 2016
Introduction
The Ernest N. Morial Convention Center beside the Mississippi in New Orleans was the venue for the 76th Annual Scientific Sessions of the American Diabetes Association (ADA). This easy-to-navigate venue was within walking distance of most of the conference hotels – making it an active choice between the real world experience of the hot, humid, hussle of the city streets and the cocooned isolation of an air conditioned shuttle bus. Taking the cool option may have been compensated to some extent by the 45 minute sessions on a Chair Workout, a Water Bottle Workout or Easy Office Exercises in the exhibition hall where there was a Wellness Lives Here® zone to increase awareness of this ADA initiative.
More than 16,000 delegates registered to attend this diabetes marathon, with corporate breakfast symposia starting at 5.30am, conference sessions running from 8.00am to 6.30pm, with professional interest group meetings at lunchtime and the industry sessions in the exhibition hall’s Product Theatres, as well as corporate symposia in the evening. Whilst daily conference activities would easily supply your daily step target, more than 1,200 walkers and runners took part in the annual 5K@ADA. This year’s winning time was 16.55 minutes achieved by Tommy Neal. It is also the fourth consecutive year that he has been the first person to complete the course.
Abstracts
The abstract book – showing acceptance of 2,549 abstracts – is an invaluable resource which fosters serendipity.1 The book contains the meeting programme and summarises the oral presentation sessions (n=50) and moderated poster discussion sessions (n=59) so that it is easy to locate the abstracts which will be of interest. The text is sectioned into abstracts of oral presentations (n=378), poster presentations (n=2,021) and published-only abstracts (n=335), whilst noting where material has been withdrawn. Abstracts can also be accessed online, as can most of the posters.2 Accessing the Scientific Sessions Itinerary Planner online3 or by downloading the App (via Google Play or the App Store) also provides a convenient route to the abstracts. The late breaking abstracts (n=342) are also available in print4 and online.2
Highlights
The symposia are a highlight of the ADA meeting and this year was no exception, with a programme incorporating 110 symposia providing comprehensive consideration of a range of specialist areas. Webcasts of presentations are available – for a fee – but access is free to ADA members who attended the meeting.5 Corporate (satellite) symposia can also be accessed via this link.5 The award lectures (Table 1) often provided insight into the circumstance and motivation which resulted in the advances described – inadvertently highlighting individualisation from a different perspective. Several of the award lectures – notably Barbara Kahn’s Banting Lecture – are free to view online; time well spent.
The reporting of the liraglutide cardiovascular outcome trial LEADER (Liraglutide Effect and Action in Diabetes: Evaluation of Cardiovascular Outcome Results) provided the excitement for this year’s meeting. The results of this study in patients at high cardiovascular risk reassuringly supported use of this glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonist. Liraglutide treatment reduced all-cause mortality (p=0.02) and cardiovascular death (p=0.007), as well as a non-significant decrease in non-fatal myocardial infarction, non-fatal stroke, hospitalisation for heart failure and pancreatitis.6
Diary date
Next year’s ADA will be held June 9–13 in San Diego, California where it should be warm (22°C/72°F) and dry, so pack your sunscreen.
References
1. American Diabetes Association. 75th Scientific Sessions, Abstracts. Diabetes 2016;65:Suppl 1.
2. Online abstract access https://ada.scientificposters.com/epsSearchADA.cfm
3. Online itinerary planner http://www.abstractsonline.com/pp8/#!/4008
4. American Diabetes Association. 75th Scientific Sessions, Late Breaking Abstracts. Diabetes 2016;65: Suppl 1A.
5. Accessing Scientific Sessions webcasts 2016. http://professional.diabetes.org/webcasts-ss2016
6. Marso SP, Daniels GH, Brown-Frandsen K, et al. Liraglutide and cardiovascular outcomes in type 2 diabetes. N Engl J Med 2016;375:311-22: http://dx.doi.org/10.1056/NEJMoa1603827 (access pdf http://www. nejm.org/doi/pdf/10.1056/NEJMoa1603827).
Correspondence: Dr Caroline Day
Visiting Fellow, Diabetes Group,
Aston University, Birmingham B4 7ET, UK
E-mail: cday@mededuk.com
http://dx.doi.org/10.15277/bjd.2016.093
Br J Diabetes 2016;16:141-142