On Saturday 16th November, Prof. Riccardo Polosa joined the 2024 Annual Cardiorenal, Obesity & Metabolic Health Summit held in Fujairah (UAE) to deliver an oral presentation on diabetes, smoking cessation and harm reduction.
Patients with diabetes often have to live with various complications that negatively affect their quality of life. However, there are also external factors that can worsen the course of diabetes, such as cigarette smoking.
Understanding and addressing the impact of smoking is crucial to ensuring a better quality of life for diabetic smokers.
On November 16, Professor Riccardo Polosa spoke at the Cardiorenal, Obesity & Metabolic Health Summit 2024 held in Fujairah, United Arab Emirates, with a presentation focused on harm reduction strategies within the smoking cessation approaches for smokers with diabetes, titled “Helping Diabetic Smokers Quit: The Role of Smoking Cessation and Tobacco Harm Reduction”.
The prevalence of smoking remains incredibly high among patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus. For these individuals, the consequences include a significantly increased risk of cardiovascular adverse events and metabolic repercussions.
Cessation is a path to pursue in order to improve the health parameters of diabetic smokers. However, many of them often do not want to or are unable to quit.
“Avoiding the exposure to cigarette smoke chemicals by switching to combustion-free nicotine products may lead to amelioration in CV risk factors and metabolic parameters” explains Prof. Riccardo Polosa. “By offering a safer alternative to combustible smoking, this approach may support harm reduction strategies, especially for high-risk populations who struggle with smoking cessation”.
To date, CoEHAR, through the DIASMOKE project, a global initiative to support diabetic patients in quitting smoking or reducing harm through smoke-free alternatives, has demonstrated that smoking cessation can have significant benefits in reducing the risk of cardiovascular events among individuals with type 2 diabetes.
However, the relationship between smoking and other diabetic complications, such as retinopathy and neuropathy, is poorly investigated and remains unclear, highlighting the need for additional research to fully understand these associations.
The 2024 Annual Cardiorenal, Obesity & Metabolic Health Summitt was an occasion to discuss the latest advancement and trend in the management and treatment of diabetes and cardiovascular diseases, giving an insight into the most effective current treatments, research, challenges, and management in the field of Cardiology & Diabetology.
