Strict diabetes control slashes heart attack risk: Study

The study, a meta-analysis of five separate trials, posted a 17 percent reduced risk of cardiovascular events among diabetics who observed intensive disease management, as against those who recorded above normal blood glucose levels.

Details of the study
Researchers at the University of Cambridge analyzed data from five previous studies involving over 33,000 patients. While some underwent standard therapy for diabetes management, others had indulged in intense treatment regimens.

Standard therapy involved taking drugs designed to increase body’s insulin levels or boost the body's sensitivity to the hormone, as against intense treatment that included lifestyle changes like exercise and dietary changes besides the standard drug therapy.

Among patients taking part in the trials, 1,497 heart attacks, 2,318 cases of heart disease, 1,227 strokes and 2,892 deaths were recorded.

In order to determine the heart risk for each patient, the researchers analyzed the hemoglobin A1c concentrations (HbA1c) in blood, a long-term marker of blood glucose. Lower HbA1c levels implied a better blood glucose control.

For non-diabetics healthy adults, the HbA1c levels range between 4-5 percent. However, for diabetics, the levels usually hover above 6.5 percent, the researchers highlighted.

Revelations of the study
On average, patients on standard treatment recorded HbA1C levels of 7.5 percent, as against 6.6 percent in patients who underwent intensive diabetes management treatment.

Statistically, intensive treatment led to 17 percent fewer heart attacks and a 15 percent reduced risk of heart disease, as opposed to those receiving standard treatment, researchers tabulated.

“We show that if you lower glucose measures by something called HbA1c by 0.9 percent over five years, you reduce heart attacks by 17 percent and fatal and nonfatal heart attacks by 15 percent," lead researcher Dr. Kausik Ray, a senior clinical research associate from the University of Cambridge, stated.

Implications of the study
The results hold better disease management as the key to lowering cardio complications, a feature otherwise common among diabetics.

"Previous studies have been inconclusive, leaving diabetics and their doctors unsure as to whether maintaining lower blood sugar levels actually benefited the patients,” Dr Ray stated.

"The present findings reinforce the need for diabetic patients to achieve and maintain better control of blood sugars long-term, as a means to reduce risk of heart disease," he said.

The findings feature in the May 23 issue of The Lancet.