Section 4. Comprehensive Medical Evaluation and Assessment of Comorbidities
(https://doi.org/10.2337/dc23-S004)
In Recommendation 4.3, language was modified to include evaluation for overall health status and setting of initial goals.
Considerable changes were made in the immunizations subsection to reflect new indications and guidance, particularly for COVID-19 and pneumococcal pneumonia vaccinations, including agespecific recommendations and the bivalent COVID-19 booster.
Table 4.1 was modified to include changes throughout Section 4.
The subsection “Nonalcoholic Fatty Liver Disease” (NAFLD) incorporates more detail regarding its diagnosis and risk stratification in primary care and diabetes clinics, such as using the fibrosis-4 index to assess the risk of liver fibrosis, and includes a fibrosis-4 index risk calculator. It expands on the rationale for fibrosis risk stratification in people with diabetes and when to refer to a gastroenterologist or hepatologist for further workup.
Discussion was added about the management of people with type 2 diabetes who have NAFLD, highlighting lifestyle changes that promote weight loss, the use of obesity pharmacotherapy with emphasis on treatment with glucagonlike peptide 1 (GLP-1) receptor agonists, bariatric surgery, and the role of diabetes medications (e.g., pioglitazone and GLP-1 receptor agonists) to treat people with type 2 diabetes and nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NASH).
Revisions to Section 4, including the addition of Fig. 4.2, are based on the American Gastroenterological Association 2021 “Preparing for the NASH Epidemic: A Call to Action” (reference 64 in this section) and its associated “Clinical Care Pathway for the Risk Stratification and Management of Patients with Nonalcoholic Fatty Liver Disease” (reference 66 in this section), agreed upon by a multidisciplinary task force of experts, including representatives of the ADA. Detailed recommendations from an ADA consensus statement will be published separately in 2023.