UKPDS 44 Years of Follow Up Legacy

The UKPDS 33-year study showed that an intensive glucose arm significantly reduces microvascular complications over a 10-year duration in patients with less than 6 years of newly diagnosed (T2DM) diabetes [1]. Overall, there was a good reduction in macrovascular complications in this duration, but it did not reach a statistical level. The patients were followed up for 10 years, and later, in 1997, the study was published. The microvascular benefits were still statistically significant after another 10 years despite the intensive group’s glycaemic control deteriorating in the later years to approach the control group’s glycaemic control. This is often labelled as the “legacy effect”. Further, after the subsequent 10 years, macrovascular benefits became statistically significant. It’s been 44 years since the participants started the study in 1977. A preliminary report on the 44-year outcomes was presented recently at the EASD 2022 in Stockholm.