Chronic Health Blog

NIH Shut Down Diabetes Trial After 257 Deaths

The National Institute of Health had to immediately shut down a huge trial that was being conducted on diabetes and heart disease. It is reported that almost 260 people have died after receiving intense therapy to lower their blood sugar.

The purpose of the therapy was to reduce blood sugar levels to normal for people who have Type 2 diabetes and are at a really high risk for stroke and heart attacks.

NIH’s National Heart Lung and Blood Institute said there were 257 deaths compare to 203 deaths in the standard treatment group.

Over 10,000 people were enrolled in the study who participated an average of four years. The participants were in groups receiving three types of treatment, intensive lowering of blood sugar, lowering blood pressure or reducing cholesterol.

The director of NIH said:

“A thorough review of the data shows that the medical treatment strategy of intensively reducing blood sugar below current clinical guidelines causes harm in these especially high-risk patients with type 2 diabetes. Though we have stopped this part of the trial, we will continue to care for these participants, who now will receive the less-intensive standard treatment. In addition, we will continue to monitor the health of all participants, seek the underlying causes for this finding, and carry on with other important research within ACCORD.”

Source: MSNBC.com