[News from UKPDS].

Abstract

Risk factors present in type 2 diabetic patients at the time of their inclusion in the study were related with the occurrence of some complications. Thus, relative risk for coronary heart disease is 1.57 when HbA1c is > 7.5%, 1.41 when LDL-Cholesterol is > 3.89 mmol/l, these factors are not involved in the occurrence of cerebral stroke. Blood pressure and HbA1c were monitored throughout the study and could have been significantly correlated with the occurrence of micro- and macroangiopathy, with a linear-type and even exponential (HbA1c/retinopathy) relationship and a synergistic interaction between these 2 parameters. A treatment allowing a 0.9% decrease of HbA1c and a 10 mmHg decrease of systolic blood pressure is associated with a reduction of complications, more or less important than that expected from the epidemiological analysis of data. Several therapeutic strategies ensue from these observations.