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Cardiovascular disease is a leading cause of mortality in the Philippines with an upward trend in the prevalence of atherosclerosis-related risk factors. In the national survey done in 2008, the prevalence of dyslipidemia is also increasing. As such, there is a need to increase awareness of the risk factors for cardiovascular disease among health care professionals. The development of Philippine guidelines were part of the strategy to improve overall cardiovascular risk and dyslipidemia management that is relevant to the Philippine setting. This article summarizes the 2005 Dyslipidemia guidelines, discusses some updates since its release and emphasizes equity issues when considering management of dyslipidemia in a Filipino patient.

Objective. The main objective of this study is to determine if epicardial fat thickness can be an early marker of insulin resistance. The specific objectives are to determine the specific thickness of epicardial fat that will correlate with insulin resistance and to correlate epicardial fat thickness with co-morbidities, anthropometric measurements and other clinical variables. Methodology. Patients were enrolled into the study by purposive sampling. Insulin assay, fasting blood sugar (FBS) and 2D echocardiogram measuring the epicardial fat were requested. HOMA-IR was computed and correlated with epicardial fat thickness. SPSS version 19 and Epi info v3.5.1 were used for statistical analysis. Linear regression analysis was performed on all variables to identify correlates with epicardial fat thickness. Results. A total of 22 subjects were included in the study. Insulin resistance determined using HOMA-IR, as well as BMI and fasting insulin level showed significant correlation with epicardial fat thickness (p-value

Objective. To present the results from the Philippine cohort of the A 1 chieve study receiving insulin detemir (IDet) ± oral antidiabetic drugs. Methodology. A 1 chieve is a multinational, 6-month, observational study of 66,726 people with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM), both insulin users and non-insulin users, started on IDet, insulin aspart or biphasic insulin aspart in 28 countries across four continents. This subgroup analysis evaluates the safety and effectiveness of IDet in 988 subjects from the Philippines. Results. At baseline the mean age, duration of diabetes and mean BMI were found to be 57±11.9 yrs, 6.9±5.3 yrs and 26±4.8 kg/m 2 respectively. Majority of subjects were insulin-naive (84.3%) and glycemic control was poor in all the groups at baseline. At the end of 24 weeks, there were significant improvements following IDet initiation with a 2.1% reduction in mean HbA 1c. The HbA 1c target of

This article briefly reviews the obesity practice recommendations of the Philippine Association for the Study of Overweight and Obesity (PASOO) and the obesity guidelines of the Family Medicine Research Group (FMRG) of the UP-Philippine General Hospital. The two treatment recommendations showed their focus on the primary care setting and several limitations in the development process. The implementation strategies centered on their dissemination among health care professionals although the PASOO included food and activity pyramid guides useful both as patient educational material and as a treatment tool. In spite of their limitations, both sets of recommendations are valuable resources because they effectively promote obesity awareness in the Philippine setting. However, the current sets of obesity recommendations need to be modified and updated to fulfill important requirements for high-quality recommendations backed by a strong Philippine evidence base. Collaboration among important stakeholders in the prevention and control of obesity and other noncommunicable diseases (NCD) is essential to arrive at an integrated approach to obesity.