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VOLUME 12 NUMBER 2 • NOVEMBER 2015
47
SA JOURNAL OF DIABETES & VASCULAR DISEASE
From the Editor’s Desk
Editorial
A
number of important topics are covered in this issue. The
range includes statins, fad diets, telomeres, coronary stents,
achievement of cardiovascular risk-reduction targets, and a
re-look at the importance of left ventricular hypertension as a risk
factor for cardiac disease in diabetes.
Ramsunder, from the University of Stellenbosch, Western Cape,
has reviewed the side effects of statins (page 48). This is a frequent
query from patients and colleagues, and this article serves as a neat
summary that can be provided to them.
In ‘Understanding dieting’ Naidoo and colleagues from Grey’s
Hospital, Pietermaritzburg, provide timely comment on fad diets
(page 51). They offer a rational approach and insight from a
dietitian’s viewpoint.
Khan and colleagues provide a fascinating insight into telomere
biology and the relevance to atherosclerosis (page 53). This insight
opens up a vista of potential new targets for intervention.
Qiao and co-workers from Shandong University, China, provide
results from a meta-analysis comparing sirolimus-eluting stents with
bare-metal stents. The review showed that sirolimus-eluting stents
are safer and more effective than bare-metal stents in coronary
artery disease patients with diabetes, in terms of major cardiac
events (page 62).
Pinchevsky and colleagues from the University of Witwatersrand,
Johannesburg, reviewed the achievement of guideline-
recommended targets of major cardiovascular risk factors (page
68). They showed that this is generally sub-optimal, even across
different settings. This remains a major clinical problem in patient
care around the world.
Lutale and colleagues from Dar es Salaam, Tanzania (page 72),
Chillo and co-workers from Dar es Salaam, Tanzania and Bergen,
Norway (page 83), and Ajayi and colleagues from Ado Ekiti and
Ile Ife, Nigeria, all assessed the importance of the association
between left ventricular hypertrophy and hypertension in diabetes.
This emphasises the importance of the detection of left ventricular
hypertrophy as part of the risk assessment for cardiac disease in
diabetes.
The journal staff thank our colleagues from around the world
for the important work that they are doing to improve the care
of patients with diabetes and we will continue to showcase these
efforts.
Correspondence to: FA Mahomed
Principal endocrinologist, Department of Internal Medicine, Grey’s Hospital,
Pietermaritzburg
Tel: +27 (0) 33 897-3213
Fax: 086 6474 729
e-mail:
fazmah@hotmail.comS Afr J Diabetes Vasc Dis
2014;
12
: 47
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The management and staff of Clinics Cardive Publishing
(publishers of the
Cardiovascular Journal
of Africa
and the
South African
Journal of Diabetes & Vascular
Disease
) take this opportunity to thank you for your
loyal support during 2015 and we look forward to being of
service during 2016.
We wish you and your family a merry festive season and a
prosperous new year.
Please note our offices will close on 17 December and
we will be open from 11 January 2016.