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Copyright ©The Author(s) 2018. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Diabetes. Dec 15, 2018; 9(12): 209-219
Published online Dec 15, 2018. doi: 10.4239/wjd.v9.i12.209
Treatment approach to type 2 diabetes: Past, present and future
Kristina Blaslov, Fran Stjepan Naranđa, Ivan Kruljac, Ivana Pavlić Renar
Kristina Blaslov, Ivan Kruljac, Department of Endocrinology, Diabetes and Metabolic Diseases Mladen Sekso, University Hospital Center Sestre Milosrdnice, Zagreb 10000, Croatia
Fran Stjepan Naranđa, Ivana Pavlić Renar, School of Medicine, University of Zagreb, Zagreb 10000, Croatia
Author contributions: Blaslov K and Pavlić Renar I conceived of and designed the study; Kruljac I and Naranđa SF searched the literature; Blaslov K and Kruljac I drafted the article; all authors revised the article for important intellectual content; Pavlić Renar I gave final approval for the article.
Conflict-of-interest statement: No potential conflicts of interest.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author to: Kristina Blaslov, MD, PhD, Doctor, Department of Endocrinology, Diabetes and Metabolic Diseases Mladen Sekso, University Hospital Center Sestre Milosrdnice, Vinogradska cesta 29, Zagreb 10000, Croatia. kblaslov@gmail.com
Telephone: +385-1-3787111 Fax: +385-1-3769067
Received: August 29, 2018
Peer-review started: August 29, 2018
First decision: October 5, 2018
Revised: November 20, 2018
Accepted: November 26, 2018
Article in press: November 26, 2018
Published online: December 15, 2018
Processing time: 107 Days and 4.7 Hours
Core Tip

Core tip: Type 2 diabetes mellitus (DM) is a global burden disease and one of the leading all-cause mortality causes due to cardiovascular (CV) complications. The rapid raise in the understanding of its pathogenesis resulted in treatment approach options beyond insulin that also provide beneficial CV effect. We discuss this scientific pathological and pharmacological development through a comprehensive historical approach. The wide spectrum of therapeutic agents currently used in type 2 DM treatment result in a CV mortality reduction which is not exclusively in correlation with glucose-lowering potency but is linked to its mechanism of action.