Quality of Life in the ACCORD Trial

In the widely cited ACCORD randomized trial, 10,000 older patients with longstanding type 2 diabetes received either intensive glycemic control (target glycosylated hemoglobin [HbA_1c] ≤6%) or standard control (target HbA_1c, 7.0%–7.9%). Previously, the ACCORD researchers reported that intensive glycemic control did not prevent macrovascular or microvascular complications during 4 years of follow-up (JW Gen Med Jun 6 2008 and JW Gen Med Jul 13 2010).

Now, the researchers report quality-of-life outcomes in a subset of 2000 patients (1000 each in the intensive and standard groups) who completed standardized questionnaires at baseline and at 1, 3, and 4 years. During the study, no clinically important differences between groups were noted in self…