ABSTRACT
The results of the Diabetes Control and Complications Trial in the USA have established unequivocally the relationship between glycemic control and the incidence or progression of diabetic microvascular complications. Such complications occur in both type 1 and type 2 diabetic patients, although the latter patients often die because of major vascular disease before microvascular complications become advanced. More than 40% of type 1 diabetic patients will survive for more than 40 years, half of them without developing significant microvascular complications. The United Kingdom Prospective Diabetes Study (UKPDS) has also provided pivotal information on the relationship between glucose control and complications in type 2 diabetes diabetes mellitus (DM). It has demonstrated, in a significant way, the beneficial effect of an improvement in blood glucose control on subsequent risk of developing specific diabetic complications.
