Study explains how to live longer with Type 2 diabetes

A person struggling to control their Type 2 diabetes might understand in the abstract the impact of the disease on their health. A doctor, for example, might tell them they are two to four times more likely to die of heart disease.

Telling a patient, however, that better controlling blood sugar, or glucose, could add nearly four years to their life — or conversely, that failing to control it will cut life short by four years — packs an emotional punch in its specificity.

University of Florida Health researchers in a modeling study published last month in JAMA Network Open estimates the years that might be added to the life span of someone with Type 2 diabetes with improved control of the disease. The findings, they hope, might motivate patients to follow a healthier lifestyle and help clinicians prioritize interventions, researchers said.