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People with type 2 diabetes need to check their blood sugar levels quickly. The years immediately following diagnosis are conspicuously critical in terms of your future risk of heart attack and death. This is shown in a joint study by the Universities of Gothenburg and Oxford.
In a cooperation between the University of Gothenburg in Sweden and the University of Oxford in Great Britain, the importance of blood sugar levels from the time of diagnosis of type 2 diabetes on the risk of heart attack and death was investigated. The project was jointly led by Professor Marcus Lind in Gothenburg and Professor Rury Holman in Oxford.
The research was based on an important study of type 2 diabetes, the UK Prospective Diabetes Study (UKPDS). This new analysis examined the role of blood sugar levels in the first few years after diagnosis of type 2 diabetes in the prognosis of myocardial infarction and death 10 to 20 years later.
The results presented in the journal Diabetes Care show that the blood sugar level in the early course of the disease has a much greater influence on the future prognosis than previously assumed. They show that targeting blood sugar levels according to treatment guidelines (HbA1c 52 mmol / mol or lower) from the time of diagnosis was associated with an approximately 20 percent lower risk of death 10 to 15 years later than targeting higher blood sugar levels. Sugar level (HbA1c 63 mmol / mol). In addition, it was found that delaying the establishment of good blood sugar levels for up to 10 years after diagnosis was only associated with a 3% lower risk of death.
“These latest results show that the right early blood sugar treatment for type 2 diabetes is critical to optimizing diabetes care. So far, we have neither performed such an analysis nor understood how important early blood sugar control is for the prognosis. They also mean that the early detection of type 2 diabetes needs to move more into focus in order to prevent people from living with undetected high blood sugar levels for several years, ”says Professor Marcus Lind.
Professor Rury Holman of the University of Oxford’s Radcliffe Department of Medicine said, “These new results provide a mechanistic explanation for the glycemic ‘aging effect’ first identified by the UKPDS, which good glycemic control reduces in newly diagnosed type 2 diabetes has been shown to reduce the risk of diabetic complications and death for up to 30 years. The discovery of the ‘Legacy Effect’ has led treatment guidelines worldwide to recommend the need for good glycemic control as soon as possible. ”
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More information:
Marcus Lind et al., Historical HbA1c Levels May Explain the Legacy Effect of Type 2 Diabetes: UKPDS 88, Diabetes Care (2021). DOI: 10.2337 / dc20-2439 Provided by the University of Gothenburg
Quote: Early blood sugar levels in type 2 diabetes are crucial for future prognosis (2021, July 8), accessed on July 9, 2021 from https://medicalxpress.com/news/2021-07-early-blood-sugar-diabetes -crucial-future .html
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