Medical Antihyperglycaemic Treatment of Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus

Type 2 diabetes mellitus is a chronically progressive disease that is characterised by inherited and acquired insulin resistance and an increasing insulin secretion disorder. In order to reduce the morbidity and mortality rates among type 2 diabetics, which are increased signifi cantly by macro-and microangiopathic complications, besides the antihyperglycaemic therapy discussed here it is also essential to administer the optimum treatment for arterial hypertension (see also DDG guideline " Managing hypertension in patients with diabetes mellitus " ), diabetic dyslipidaemia (see also DDG guideline on " Lipid metabolism disorders " , in preparation), and hypercoagulopathy that are often associated with type 2 diabetes. The eff ectiveness of a multifactorial intervention in reducing macro-and microvascular complications Gaede et al., 2003 , evidence class (EC) Ib) and also mortality (abso-