Blood Sugar Control Shows Huge Impact on Long Term Health
An observational study from the University of Gothenburg in Sweden has shown that reducing A1C levels by less than 1%, to a target of 7%, had a huge effect on the incidence of death from cardiovascular causes as well as the occurrence of heart-related “events” and cardiovascular events. Observing more than 18,000 individuals having diabetes for an average of 8 years, selected from the Swedish National Diabetes Register, researchers divided the study population into those showing A1C reduction (average from 7,8% to 7.0%) and those showing an A1C increase (average 7.7% to 8.3%). Patients having a history of cardiovascular disease, congestive heart failure, or atrial fibrillation were excluded from the study completely.After correcting for age, diabetes duration, sex, blood pressure and blood pressure treatment, lipid status and lipid-lowering treatment, HbA1c, albuminuria, BMI, and changes in those risk factors and treatments over time there remained a substantial 45% decreased risk for cardiovascular related death among the group exhibiting better glycemic control. Better glycemic control also reduced the risk of fatal and nonfatal heart events by 39% and fatal/ nonfatal cardiovascular events by 37%.The researchers were looking to address the debate about whether glycemic control is related to poor cardiovascular outcomes.
1% A1C Reduction = 45% Reduction in Cardiovascular Death in Swedish Study
An observational study from the University of Gothenburg in Sweden has shown that reducing A1C levels by less than 1%, to a target of 7%, had a huge effect on the incidence of death from cardiovascular causes as well as the occurrence of heart-related “events” and cardiovascular events. Observing more than 18,000 individuals having diabetes for an average of 8 years, selected from the Swedish National Diabetes Register, researchers divided the study population into those showing A1C reduction (average from 7,8% to 7.0%) and those showing an A1C increase (average 7.7% to 8.3%). Patients having a history of cardiovascular disease, congestive heart failure, or atrial fibrillation were excluded from the study completely.After correcting for age, diabetes duration, sex, blood pressure and blood pressure treatment, lipid status and lipid-lowering treatment, HbA1c, albuminuria, BMI, and changes in those risk factors and treatments over time there remained a substantial 45% decreased risk for cardiovascular related death among the group exhibiting better glycemic control. Better glycemic control also reduced the risk of fatal and nonfatal heart events by 39% and fatal/ nonfatal cardiovascular events by 37%.The researchers were looking to address the debate about whether glycemic control is related to poor cardiovascular outcomes.