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Diabetic autonomic neuropathy is a lesser‐known complication of diabetes mellitus and it has a significant negative impact on the quality of life in affected patients. It can involve the cardiovascular, urogenital, and gastrointestinal systems. Poor glycemic control, long‐standing diabetes, advanced age, female gender, and smoking are potential risk factors for diabetic autonomic neuropathy. Specifically, cardiovascular autonomic neuropathy (CAN) contributes to morbidity and mortality in patients with diabetes as it carries a high risk of cardiac arrhythmias. Technological advances have made early detection of CAN in clinical practice a real possibility. The diagnosis of CAN is done by performing cardiovascular autonomic function tests (CAFTs), including heart rate variability, heart rate and blood pressure (BP) response to standing and deep breathing, and BP response to sustained handgrip. An improvement in the balance of the autonomic nervous system may help in reducing cardiovascular events and early mortality in patients with diabetes. Early recognition of CAN by the primary care physician is possible with the aforementioned tests. The primary care physician can help in preventing the progression of CAN by tailoring an individualized treatment regimen for patients with diabetes encompassing lifestyle modification, physical activity, and careful use of oral hypoglycemic drugs. Insulin resistance and adipocytokines are the probable underlying causes of vascular complications of diabetes. Inflammatory adipocytokines are being studied as potential markers for diabetes‐related complications.

The diagnosis of cancer during pregnancy is a rare event. However, its incidence has increased in recent years, mainly because these days, women often delay childbearing until after the age of 30, which coincides with the time that cancers tend to appear. Studies have shown that cancer patients are at high risk for developing venous thromboembolism (VTE), especially when hospitalized, and this risk is even greater when associated with pregnancy because pregnancy also increases the risk of thrombosis. Thromboembolic events are among the leading causes of maternal morbidity and mortality during pregnancy and the postpartum period and are the leading causes of maternal death in developed countries. Other risk factors for VTE include metastatic disease, rapidly growing tumors, and biologically aggressive cancers associated with a poor prognosis.