Long-Term Follow-Up from a Landmark Diabetes Trial

The Diabetes Control and Complications Trial was the first large randomized trial in which intensive glycemic control in adolescents and young adults with type 1 diabetes was examined. Six-year results were published in 1993: Intensively treated patients (mean glycosylated hemoglobin [HbA_1c] level, 7.3%) exhibited slower progression of retinopathy and albuminuria than conventionally treated patients (mean HbA_1c, 9.1%; JW Gen Med Oct 5 1993). Patients now have been followed for 16 more years in an observational, nonrandomized phase, during which mean HbA_1c levels have been similar in the two groups (about 8%).

Researchers report long-term (22-year) renal outcomes in 1222 of the original 1441 participants. Patients in the original intensively …