TY  - JOUR
T1  - Treatment of type 2 diabetes: One extreme to another—reply
AU  - Havas S
Y1  - 2009/07/13
N1  - 10.1001/archinternmed.2009.187
JO  - Archives of Internal Medicine
SP  - 1241
EP  - 1247
VL  - 169
IS  - 13
N2  - 
Dr Hirsch raises important points. Pharmaceutical companies and the American Diabetes Association (ADA) continue to promote using glucose level–lowering drugs in type 2 diabetes mellitus to attain an HbA1c level below 7% despite recurring evidence of potential harm and scant evidence of benefit. Both influenced the National Committee on Quality Assurance (NCQA) to approve a performance measure for that level.1 Yet randomized clinical trials (RCTs) have not demonstrated significant benefits from glucose level–lowering agents in type 2 diabetes except for metformin. Therefore, it makes no sense for third-party payers to hold practitioners to a non–evidence-based measure of an HbA1c level below 7%.

SN  - 0003-9926
M3  - doi: 10.1001/archinternmed.2009.187
UR  - http://dx.doi.org/10.1001/archinternmed.2009.187
ER  -