Economic Evaluations of Strategies for Preventing Renal Disease in Non-Insulin Dependent Diabetes Mellitus

Recent clinical trials such as the Stockholm Diabetes Intervention Study (SDIS) and the Diabetes Control and Complications Trial (DCCT) have demonstrated that intensive glycaemic control can slow the development and delay the progression of renal disease in persons with insulin dependent diabetes mellitus (IDDM) [1,2]. In addition, clinical studies suggest that treatment of patients with microalbuminuria and clinical nephropathy with angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitors and other antihypertensive agents [3–8] or with a low protein diet [9–12] can slow progression to end-stage renal disease. However, few studies have demonstrated the efficacy of such interventions in persons with non-insulin dependent diabetes mellitus (NIDDM).