Sugarland: Key to Diabetes Is for Medicine to Get More Personal

Diabetes is the fastest-growing chronic disease in the United States, and one of the most expensive to maintain. And while there's no cure, recent advances have given some diabetics and physicians reason for hope.

Diabetes has long been called a "wastebasket" disease, meaning its a set of very different diseases, all of which share the symptom of high blood sugar. For instance, type 1 diabetes is an autoimmune disorder. Type 2 is a progressive disease, which is usually brought on by a combination of genetics, diet and lifestyle. But researchers now say there are four or five subtypes of type 2 diabetes alone, caused by different patterns of genes, with different risks for complications.

Many researchers and patients believe the future of diabetes care will come in the form of personalized medicine, which would tailor treatments to individual patients based on their genetics, environment and even data collected by wearable devices, from an Apple Watch to an "artificial pancreas," which contains an electronic insulin pump and continuous glucose monitor.

Listen to Dr. Cheryl Olson discuss the future of diabetes care with WNYC's Richard Hake.

Support for Sugarland is provided by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, and Science Sandbox, an initiative of the Simons Foundation.