VIENNA – A “pragmatic and simple” approach to gradually lower the hemoglobin A1c level in patients with type 2 diabetes to 6.5% and then maintain it for an average of 5 years caused no suggestion of harm and led to an important halving of end-stage renal disease during 10-year follow-up in a controlled study with more than 8,000 patients, Dr. Sophia Zoungas said in an interview at the annual meeting of the European Association for the Study of Diabetes.
Intensive glucose control did not increase mortality or the rate of major macrovascular events in 10-year results from the ADVANCE ON (Action in Diabetes and Vascular Disease: Preterax and Diamicron MR Controlled Evaluation Post Trial Observational Study) trial. The results also showed for the first time that intensive glucose control produced a significant and large reduction in end-stage kidney disease, said Dr. Zoungas, an endocrinologist with the George Institute of the University of Sydney.
ADVANCE ON received partial funding from Servier. Dr. Zoungas has received honoraria from Servier as well as from Merck Sharp & Dohme, Bristol-Myers Squibb/AstraZeneca, Sanofi-Aventis, Novo Nordisk, and Amgen.