How to Improve Future Prognosis in Type 2 Diabetes?

The initial years after diagnosing type 2 diabetes are important to avoid future heart attacks and death risk, according to a joint study from the Universities of Gothenburg and Oxford. The research is based on the UK Prospective Diabetes Study (UKPDS), a key trial in type 2 diabetes. This new study examined the role of blood-sugar levels in the first years after type 2 diabetes was diagnosed for the prognosis of myocardial infarction and death 10-20 years later.

The results reported in the scientific journal Diabetes Care show that blood-sugar levels early in the course of the condition have a greater impact on the future prognosis.

The targeting blood-sugar levels according to treatment guidelines (HbA1c 52 mmol/mol or lower) from the time of diagnosis is associated with an approximately 20 percent lower risk of death 10-15 years later.

The study also shows that the delaying the introduction of good blood-sugar levels until 10 years after diagnosis is associated with only a 3% lower risk of death.

"These latest results are evidence that proper early blood-sugar treatment in type 2 diabetes is crucial to optimise diabetes care. They also mean that there is a need for a greater focus on detecting type 2 diabetes at the earliest opportunity to prevent people living with undetected high blood-sugar levels for several years," says Professor Marcus Lind.

These new results provide a mechanistic explanation for the glycaemic 'legacy effect', first identified by the UKPDS and instituting good blood-sugar control in newly-diagnosed type 2 diabetes can reduce the risks of diabetic complications and death for up to 30 years.

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The discovery of the 'legacy effect' has led to diabetes treatment guidelines worldwide recommending the need to achieve good blood-glucose control as soon as possible.

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Source-Medindia