[Objectives and therapeutic strategy in type 2 diabetes mellitus]

United Kingdom Prospective Diabetes Study (UKPDS) has demonstrated definitively that patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (DM) benefit from intensive blood glucose control, because it diminishes the risk to develop microvascular complications. The therapeutic targets in the type 2 DM have been modified in order to reduce the risk of these complications. However, aggressive treatment may be disastrous for patients with microvascular complications and/or an increased risk of hypoglycemic unawareness, and neither it would be advised in older patients or with short life expectancy. The available drugs for treatment of type 2 DM offer many options for achieving these therapeutic targets, based on the need of the individual patient. In this job we review the targets in the metabolic control of type 2 DM and their backgrounds, and we describe briefly the therapeutic strategy recommended for reaching these targets, with special attention to the new oral antidiabetic agents (repaglinide and thiazolidinediones).