Hormonal
Intensive glucose lowering treatment in type 2 diabetes does not reduce all-cause mortality or cardiovascular death and significantly increases the risk of severe hypoglycemia.
For people with type 2 diabetes, aggressively lowering blood sugar to very low targets (like <7%) does not extend life or prevent heart attacks, and significantly increases the risk of dangerous low blood sugar episodes. Standard care may be safer and equally effective for survival. Focus on overall cardiovascular risk management rather than just hitting a specific low number.
Intensive treatment did not significantly affect all cause mortality (risk ratio 1.04, 99% confidence interval 0.91 to 1.19) or cardiovascular death (1.11, 0.86 to 1.43)... intensive therapy was, however, associated with... a more than twofold increase in the risk of severe hypoglycaemia (2.33, 2.16 to 3.36, P<0.001).
Why this rating
Meta-analysis of 13 RCTs with 34,533 patients, though sensitivity analysis on high-quality studies showed loss of benefit for secondary endpoints.
Source
Effect of intensive glucose lowering treatment on all cause mortality, cardiovascular death, and microvascular events in type 2 diabetes: meta-analysis of randomised controlled trials
Rémy Boussageon et al. · BMJ · 2011
DOI 10.1136/bmj.d4169
Related findings · Hormonal
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