Nov 9, 2011 – No Help

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ANCHOR LEAD: INTENSIVE MANAGEMENT DOESN’T HELP AVOID CARDIOVASCULAR EVENTS IN THOSE WITH DIABETES, ELIZABETH TRACEY REPORTS

People with diabetes are at increased risk for heart attack, stroke, and other adverse outcomes.  A large NIH sponsored study begun over a decade ago aimed to determine if intensive management of risk factors could reduce their incidence.  Rita Kalyani, a diabetes expert at Johns Hopkins, describes the results.

KALYANI: This study was designed to test the hypothesis that an intensive intervention could affect cardiovascular risk factors and ultimately reduce cardiovascular events.  In this interim analysis patients had been followed for up to 11 years and what they found was that although previous analyses done at shorter intervals demonstrated benefits on sleep patterns, on need for medications, in those who were in the intensive arm.  After this duration of follow up, which was up to 11 years, there was no significantly decreased risk of cardiovascular events, and this was a surprising finding.    :33

Kalyani says that those in the intensive management group did need fewer medications, however.  At Johns Hopkins, I’m Elizabeth Tracey.