Lancet
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Few trials of glucose-lowering drugs or strategies in people with type 2 diabetes have investigated cardiovascular outcomes, even though most patients die from cardiovascular causes despite the beneficial effects of lipid-reducing and blood pressure-lowering treatments. The evidence-based reduction in risk of microvascular disease with glucose lowering has resulted in guidelines worldwide recommending optimisation of glycosylated haemoglobin, but no trial results have shown unequivocal cardiovascular risk reduction with glucose lowering. However, results of the post-trial follow-up of the UK Prospective Diabetes Study, and of a meta-analysis of the four glucose-lowering outcome trials completed to date, suggest about a 15% cardiovascular relative risk reduction per 1% decrement in HbA1c. ⋯ This unintended consequence of the new regulations has meant that the potential long-term benefits, and the possible risks of new therapies, are not being assessed effectively. Also, essential head-to-head trials of therapies for this complex progressive disease, to answer issues such as how best to achieve and maintain optimum glycaemia without promoting weight gain or hypoglycaemia, are not being undertaken. In this Series paper, we summarise randomised controlled cardiovascular outcome trials in type 2 diabetes, provide an overview of ongoing trials and their limitations, and speculate on how future trials could be made more efficient and effective.
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The pattern of endocrine disorders in long-term survivors of childhood cancer has not been investigated comprehensively. Here, we aimed to assess the lifetime risk of these disorders in Nordic survivors of childhood cancer. ⋯ The Danish Council for Strategic Research.