DCCT Continues To Provide New Data:

CVD Events Lowered by 60% Years Later for Intensive Group. By following the participants in the DCCT study since it’s conclusion in 1993, it has continued to provide new information. For the first time, intensive treatment of diabetic patients results in a significantly lower risk of heart disease by 57%.

Researchers say this is yet another proven benefit of the long-term effects of tight glucose control in patients with type 1 diabetes. The results stem from studying cardiovascular events in patients who took part in the Diabetes Control and Complications Trial (DCCT) and a follow-up NIH study. The original DCCT results reported in 1993 showed a 50-60 percent reduction in eye, kidney, and nerve disease. Now researchers also know this treatment helps reduce severe cardiovascular events.

"This is exciting news for those coping with diabetes. This intensive treatment of glucose control could allow them to live longer with less suffering," said Stanley Schwartz, MD, the principal investigator on the DCCT follow-up study, called the Epidemiology of Diabetes Interventions and Complications (EDIC). Schwartz is also the Director of Diabetes Disease Management for the University of Pennsylvania Health System. "The EDIC study examined the long-term effects of an average of 6.5 years of conventional insulin treatment versus intensive insulin treatment."

Schwartz adds that before, with conventional treatments, the patient would receive 1-2 shots of insulin a day and occasional office visits and standard dietary reminders. In intensive treatment, patients are given 3-4 shots of insulin a day, frequent dietary reminders, monthly doctor’s appointments, and psychological support.

In results announced last Sunday, the ADA says among the more than 1,300 volunteers continuing to participate in the DCCT/EDIC study (which is a remarkable 93% of the original volunteer base), the intensively treated patients had a 57% reduction in the number of serious cardiovascular events such as heart attacks and strokes — compared to the conventionally treated group.

According to the ADA, the risk of heart disease is about 10 times higher in people with type 1 diabetes than in people without diabetes. About 18.2 million people in the United States have diabetes, the most common cause of blindness, kidney failure, and amputations in adults and a major cause of heart disease and stroke.

The new finding was announced at the 65th annual scientific meeting of the American Diabetes Association.

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DID YOU KNOW: Poster #391 ADA 65th Scientific Session: Checking blood sugars with Less OUCH!: The finger stick has been the method of self-management that people with diabetes have learned to live with but certainly don’t love. Fingertips are tender spots. This study showed that pricking your palm—which has high capillary density but fewer pain receptors – yielded equivalent results to fingertip testing. No new meter needed!