Intensive glycemic control prevents severe microvascular disease in patients with type 2 diabetes

Kaplan-Meier plots of aggregate endpoints of microvascular disease in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus in the United Kingdom Prospective Diabetes Study who were randomly assigned to receive either intensive therapy with a sulfonylurea or insulin, or to conventional treatment with diet; drugs were added if the patients had hyperglycemic symptoms or fasting blood glucose concentrations greater than 270 mg/dL (15 mmol/L). Intensive therapy was associated with a 25% reduction (p = 0.01) in the development of microvascular disease, which was defined as kidney failure, death from kidney failure, retinal photocoagulation, or vitreous hemorrhage.