Intensive management of type 2 diabetes can make a difference in how long and how well you live, even if you don't start until middle age, researchers report. People who were already at risk of type 2 diabetes complications were randomly selected to continue with their normal treatment or to be placed in an aggressive and multipronged treatment group.
Two decades after the study began, the researchers found that people in the aggressive treatment group lived almost eight years longer.  Not only that, they lived better -- their risk of heart disease, kidney disease and blindness all dropped. The only complication that didn't seem to improve was nerve damage caused by diabetes.
"Early, intensified intervention in type 2 diabetes patients with microalbuminuria with both target-driven pharmacological (medication) and behavioral actions increased life span. And, that extra life length is free from severe and feared complications," said study senior author Dr. Oluf Pedersen. He's a specialist in internal medicine and endocrinology for the Novo Nordisk Foundation Center for Basic Metabolic Research at the University of Copenhagen in Denmark. Microalbuminuria is the presence of small amounts of protein in the urine. It's a signal the kidneys aren't working properly and the first sign of diabetic kidney damage, according to the American Diabetes Association.
HealthDay