A better future for children with type 1 diabetes: Review of the conclusions from the Diabetes Control and Complications Trial and the Epidemiology of Diabetes Interventions and Complications study.

Research shows a causal association between hyperglycemia and diabetic complications which include nephropathy, neuropathy, retinopathy and blood vessel and heart disease. Intensive control of blood glucose in children has been debated for years. The Diabetes Control and Complications Trial (DCCT) and the Epidemiology of Diabetes Interventions and Complications (EDIC) study followed more than 1,400 volunteers and intensely managed a portion of those patients over several years. Results from the DCCT study regarding the benefits of intensive diabetes management continue to be significant more than 15 years after they were published.