Lower HbA1c has sustained benefit in lowering kidney disease risk
A review of patients with type 1 diabetes shows that 10 years of intensively controlled diabetes lowers the risk of diabetes complications decades later.
Between 1983 and 1993, 1,441 patients with type 1 diabetes took part in a groundbreaking trial to quantify how much of a difference keeping diabetes well controlled would make to the chances of developing common diabetic complications such as retinal, kidney and nerve disease.
The trial was called the Diabetes Control and Complications Trial (DCCT). Participants were randomly assigned to achieve either standard control or intensive control. Standard control involved no challenging targets, but to avoid symptoms of too high or too low blood sugar levels. Intensive control aimed towards achieving an HbA1c of as close 6% (42 mmol/mol) as possible.
The results were conclusive, the intensively treated patients benefited from a 50% lower risk of kidney disease, 60% lower risk of neuropathy and 76% lower risk of retinopathy.
After the DCCT trial finished, the group that had been intensively treated for 10 years of the DCCT study were allowed to manage their diabetes without needing to achieve such tight control. All participants that took part in the study were invited to take part in a further study, the EDIC …read more
Source: News from Diabetes.co.uk