Further to this 2 year follow up more data has been released online:
Short version:
https://care.diabetesjournals.org/content/early/2020/01/22/dc19-0371
Longer Version:
https://eprints.gla.ac.uk/211019/7/211019.pdf
As we knew before: "During remission, median (interquartile range) maximal rate of insulin secretion increased from 581 (480–811) pmol/min/m2 at baseline to 736 (542–998) pmol/min/m2 at 5 months, 942 (565–1,240) pmol/min/m2 at 12 months (
P = 0.028 from baseline), and 936 (635–1,435) pmol/min/m2 at 24 months (
P = 0.023 from baseline;
n = 20 of 39 of those initially in remission). This was comparable to the NDC group (1,016 [857–1,507] pmol/min/m2) by 12 (
P = 0.064) and 24 (
P = 0.244) months."
This is additional info: "Median first-phase insulin response increased from baseline to 5 months (42 [4–67] to 107 [59–163] pmol/min/m2;
P < 0.0001) and then remained stable at 12 and 24 months (110 [59–201] and 125 [65–166] pmol/min/m2, respectively;
P < 0.0001 vs. baseline) but lower than that of the NDC group (250 [226–429] pmol/min/m2;
P < 0.0001)."
So the first phase insulin response rate only returned to half that of the non-diabetic control group although the maximal rate of insulin secretion is virtually the same.
Could someone attempt to explain that in layman's terms as it appears contradictory at first glance ?.
Could this be explained by the following: "HbA1c remained in the non-diabetic range in Responders (n=20) at 24 months having remained steady although significantly higher than in NDC (6.0±0.3%(41.7±3.5mmol/mol) vs. 5.4±0.3%(35.2±3.4mmol/mol)"
Are they really comparing like with like, surely a matched group with a HbA1c of 42 (6.0%) would have been a closer comparison.