INS and type 1 diabetes mellitus: Even a transient decline in HbA1c levels has been shown to be associated with a decreased risk of medium- and long-term complications of type 1 diabetes [35]; intensive insulin therapy has been reported to decrease the adjusted mean risks of retinopathy development by 76%, microalbuminuria by 39%, and clinical neuropathy by 60%; in another study, each 1% increase in HbA1c was associated with a 31% increase in the long-term risk of cardiovascular events, and the relative mortality rate increased exponentially for HbA1c values above 75 mmol/l (9%) [36].