COPENHAGEN, Denmark -- A new study out of Denmark shows patients with type 2 diabetes are more likely to avoid cardiovascular and other complications of diabetes if they receive intensive treatment for the condition.
In their study, a long-term intervention program incorporating several diabetes strategies led to about a 50-percent reduction in the risk cardiovascular events such as heart attacks and stroke. Complications related to blindness and amputations were reduced as well.
People with type 2 diabetes face about a two- to six-times greater risk of death from cardiovascular causes than those without the disease. Among white Americans, the prevalence of heart disease is twice as high in diabetics as in non-diabetics. Several studies have suggested more intensive treatment can reduce this risk, and the American Diabetes Association now recommends such an approach. This study set out to gauge the outcomes for patients receiving this level of treatment.
Investigators randomly assigned 80 patients to receive conventional treatment for their diabetes and 80 to receive an intensive program consisting of diet, exercise, smoking cessation for those who smoked, blood pressure treatment, daily vitamin-mineral supplementation, daily aspirin, and drugs to control blood sugar, if needed.
Patients were followed for nearly eight years. Those in the intensive group had significantly lower rates of cardiovascular disease, nephropathy, retinopathy, and autonomic neuropathy.
The authors write, "Our findings have considerable implications for the treatment of type 2 diabetes. An approach such as the one we used ... should be offered to patients with type 2 diabetes and microalbuminuria who are at increased risk for macrovascular and microvascular complications."
Source: Ivanhoe News: New England Journal of Medicine, 2003;348:383-393.
January 2003 News Article Index
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