Study: Treating Diabetes Lessens Heart Problems
Jun. 13–Glaze Rollins was 27 when he experienced some classic symptoms of dehydration: thirst, hair loss and fatigue, to name a few, as well as frequent urination.
When the Garden City man went to the doctor, he learned his blood-sugar level was high enough to put him in a coma within 24 hours.
A year later, he entered a medical study that taught him during the past 20 years to manage his Type 1 diabetes, and he said he hopes the results of the study will encourage other diabetics to be as vigilant about controlling blood-sugar levels.
The study, released Sunday at the American Diabetes Association meeting in San Diego, shows that vigilant treatment of diabetes reduces future cardiovascular problems.
The study is the continuation of a trial that determined in 1993 that keeping blood-glucose levels close to normal slows the onset and progression of eye, kidney and nerve diseases caused by diabetes.
“I know how I feel, and if I don’t feel like I should, I check the blood sugar. It’s just that simple now. Any diabetic should do that,” Rollins said. “The program proved that [consistent treatment] will eliminate the problems associated with diabetes.”
Almost 1,400 people took part in the follow-up study, including 56 from South Carolina, Georgia and Florida who were monitored by the Medical University of South Carolina.
Rollins doesn’t know what caused his diabetes. He has no family history of it, leads an active lifestyle and has not been overweight.
Because of the guidance he said he received in the study, Rollins has never had complications from diabetes.
Almost all the participants in the original study were monitored for another decade to check for cardiovascular problems as they aged.
Scientists say the study shows control of blood-sugar levels results in a 42 percent reduction in the risk of developing cardiovascular complications such as heart attacks, strokes, angina and the need for heart-related surgeries. There also was a 58 percent reduction in the risk of developing heart attack and stroke specifically when the blood-sugar levels were monitored, the report says.
“These are very significant results, and combined with the [original study's] results we have a very powerful message for people with diabetes,” MUSC professor John Colwell said in a news release. “The bottom line is that maintaining blood-sugar levels as near as normal as possible as soon as diabetes in diagnosed is a critical factor in avoiding the serious and sometimes deadly complications associated with diabetes.”
Colwell is former president of the American Diabetes Association and served as principal investigator at the MUSC site for both studies.
Diabetes is a lifelong illness involving problems with the hormone insulin, according to Webmd.com. Either the pancreas produces little or no insulin or the body does not respond appropriately to insulin, according to the Web site.
Diabetics can manage the illness through a balance of exercise, correct food and medication, the Web site says.
Rollins said he has kept complications at bay through a mix of watching what he eats, exercise, insulin and carrying candy bars or glucose tablets for emergencies.
“All of your eating habits change, but now, with the control and with monitoring, you can do most anything,” Rollins said. While in the study, he checked his blood-sugar levels four times a day, he said.
“I was lucky in that I was old enough to understand what I have,” Rollins said. “It made a lot of sense to me that if you knew what your blood sugars were, you knew how to react that day.”
ABOUT DIABETES: Diabetes is a lifelong illness involving problems with the hormone insulin. Either the pancreas produces little or no insulin or the body does not respond appropriately to insulin. Diabetics can manage the illness through a balance of exercise, correct food and medication.
Source: Webmd.com
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