The NIH recently announced that it has been decided to stop one part of a major North American clinical trial of diabetes and cardiovascular disease called ACCORD (an acronym for "Action to Control Cardiovascular Risk in Diabetes"). The announcement is available on-line at
-
Question
clk
Thursday, February 07, 2008 at 04:04 PMre: Question
Dr. Bill Quick
Thursday, February 07, 2008 at 05:32 PMIn brief, they don't...
I expect that additional analyses will be run on the data and that we'll eventually have information to address your concern.
Thanks for commenting!
reply -
Accord and A1c
George Beck
Sunday, February 10, 2008 at 05:07 PM12 years ago I had a heart attack. I have been Diabetic for 6 years. 3 months ago I was taken off of ACTOS (in combination with Metformin) because of concerns that ACTOS/Avandia were in the same family. Besides, my A1C was 7.7 and ACTOS just wasn't doing it for me. I went on Januvia w/metformin. My A!C (after 2-1/2 months) was 6.2. I am now able to lose weight which had been a problem with ACTOS. I have lost 30 pounds in a little over 3 months. I test 4 times a day and have never had a reading below 90 and my average seems to be settling in at about 109 mg with a std deviation of about 10 from that average. With ACTOS my average was 153 and a standard deviation of 23mg. If hypoglycemia might or was the problem in the ACCORD test, would someone like me have anything to worry about? My cholesterol is 138 and lipids at 99 in the latest test. My blood pressure is usually 110-115 over 65-75.
replyre: Accord and A1c
Dr. Bill Quick
Sunday, February 10, 2008 at 07:18 PMCongratulations on your improved diabetes control and weight loss! As I mentioned, it's unclear if hypoglycemia might have provoked the findings seen in the ACCORD trial.
Clearly, since you have previously had a heart attack, you are at high risk of further cardiac difficulties, and based on the ACCORD findings, it might be prudent to keep your A1C in the general range of 7.0 to 7.9 -- which certainly seems counterintuitive!
I'd suggest you discuss the situation with your physician.
reply
In the article you mentioned that the people had 2 other risk factors. How do they know that it was "intense" diabetes treatment that created the increased danger of heart attack and not the "other risk factors"?
reply