The Action to Control Cardiovascular Risk in Diabetes (ACCORD) is a randomized clinical trial with 3 components, determining the effects of blood glucose lowering, blood pressure lowering, and lowering of serum triglycerides plus raising serum high density lipoprotein cholesterol levels on cardiovascular disease (CVD) in patients with type 2 diabetes. 10,000 participants will be randomly assigned in equal numbers to two glycemic management treatment arms. An intensive treatment arm will aim to achieve and maintain hemoglobin A1C level < 6.0%. A conventional treatment arm will target an A1C range of 7.0-7.9% with an expected mean value of approximately 7.5%. 4,200 of these participants will simultaneously be randomized to one of two hypertension management protocols. The intensive treatment arm targets a systolic blood pressure (SBP) < 120 mmHg and the conventional treatment arm targets a SBP <140 mmHg. 5,800 dyslipidemic ACCORD participants (HDL < 40 mg/dl) will be randomly assigned in a double masked fashion to either a placebo or fenofibrate 160 mg daily for reduction of triglyceride levels and increase in high-density lipoprotein cholesterol levels, after low-density lipoprotein cholesterol has been lowered with statin therapy (simvastatin 20 mg daily) to target LDL levels of approximately 100 mg/dl or lower. The primary endpoint of the ACCORD Trial is death from cardiovascular causes, non-fatal myocardial infarction and non-fatal stroke. Secondary outcomes include: the combination of the primary outcome plus any revascularization for coronary artery disease plus hospitalization for congestive heart failure; total mortality, cardiovascular mortality; any one of the specific coronary heart disease endpoints noted above, and fatal and non-fatal strokes. Other microvascular complications will also be assessed in this study. An ancillary eye study designed to evaluate the effects of these medical treatments on diabetic retinopathy within the ACCORD Trial. The ACCORD Eye Study consists of 2 eye exams with fundus photography of 7 stereoscopic fields, scheduled for baseline and year 4 of follow-up. The projected sample size is 4065 patients. The main ACCORD Trial, which follows the Vanguard Phase, will recruit and randomize patients from February 2003 through June 2005. The length of follow-up for subjects in the diabetic retinopathy study will range from 4 to 6 years. Baseline eye exams will be conducted until December 2005.
