Tight diabetes control can help protect kidneys

Wed, 16 Nov 2011
Research from the US has claimed that people who suffer from type 1 diabetes that are able to closely control their blood sugar levels are also helping to protect their kidneys from long-term damage.

The study, which was published in the New England Journal of Medicine, showed that people who received early add intensive diabetes treatment saw their chances of developing a complication of the kidney known as impaired glomerular filtration rate (GFR) being reduced by 50 per cent. It is thought that an impaired GFR is associated with end-stage renal disease.

The scientists examined data from the Diabetes Control and Complications Trial of over 1,400 people with type 1 diabetes who received either intensive diabetes management to reduce haemoglobin A1C levels (HbA1C) or conventional diabetes therapy, as well as the Epidemiology of Diabetes Interventions and Complications study, which monitored the health of 1,375 participants.

For the former study, it was found that those in the intensive management group had an average HbA1C of 7.3 per cent, as compared to those in the conventional group who had an HbA1C average of 9.1. In the latter study, both groups had HbA1Cs at about the 8 per cent level.

Ian de Boer, who led the research, stated "Our study shows that impaired GFR can be prevented in type 1 diabetes. This kidney complication that leads to end-stage renal disease doesn't have to happen."

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