Diabetes sugar level can be reduced too much, UK researchers warn

Intense treatment to lower blood sugar in patients with diabetes could prove nearly as harmful as allowing glucose levels to remain high, a study says. British scientists have gauged the risk posed by hypoglycemia - a lack of sugar in the blood - in a major study of diabetics that also points to possible changes in treatment guidelines.

"Low and high mean HBa1c (an indicator of blood sugar) values were associated with increased all-cause mortality and cardiac events," writes Craig Currie, from Cardiff University, and colleagues, in a paper published in the prestigious journal The Lancet. "If confirmed, diabetes guidelines might need revision to include a minimum HBa1c value,' he added.

The Cardiff, Wales-based researchers looked at nearly 50,000 patients with type 2 diabetes and found the lowest glucose levels linked to a heightened risk of death. Significant differences in death rates between patients on insulin and those taking tablets are also flagged up.