Researchers in the US have halted the Action to Control Cardiovascular Risk in Diabetes (ACCORD) experiment because of 54 excess deaths, a result that raises questions about conventional wisdom of lowering blood glucose levels to as near normal as possible in type 2 diabetes patients.
Of the 10,251 type 2 diabetes patients involved in the study, there were 257 deaths among patients receiving the aggressive treatment to drive blood sugar levels as close to normal as possible, compared with 203 among those receiving standard treatment - a difference of 54 deaths, or 3 per 1,000 participants per year.
About half the excess deaths were from heart disease, the condition the treatment was intended to reduce, dashing major hopes about type 2 diabetes treatment.
http://www.onmedica.com/NewsArticle.aspx?id=c8356608-076b-4c4c-8822-a5d00e6ff9a0