IGF1 and neuropathy: It has been reported by Chantelau that the reduction of hyperglycaemia from >16 mmol/l (equivalent to HbA1c >11%) to <10 mmol/l (HbA1c <8%) increase the serum IGF-1 levels by 70–220%, within 5 months.45 While proteinuria and symptomatic neuropathy regressed in his patients, retinopathy progressed from the mild to the severe non-proliferative stage with maculopathy (n=4), and to the proliferative stage (n=1).