Link found between glycemic control and road crashes in diabetics
Attention: Assignment Editor, Health/Medical Editor, Media Editor, News Editor, Transportation Editor
TORONTO, ONTARIO, MEDIA ADVISORY–(Marketwire – Dec. 7, 2009) – A new study in PLoS Medicine led by Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre researcher, Dr. Donald Redelmeier, suggests an adverse association between tighter glycemic control and higher risk of a motor vehicle crash for adult drivers who have diabetes mellitus.
Using a population-based case control analysis over a two year period in Ontario (January 1, 2005 to January 1, 2007), Dr. Redelmeier and colleagues from the University of Toronto studied diabetic drivers and examined the connection between measured glycosylated hemoglobin (HbA1c) drivers and the risk of a motor vehicle crash.
Of the 795 total drivers studied, one-in-fourteen had been involved in a crash. The mean HbA1c (a measure of diabetes control over about 8-12 weeks) was lower for those in a crash than those who were crash-free. That is, lower HbA1c lev