I have no answers but I thought I'd post a link to the nearly completed Australian ADVANCE study which also enrolled 10K+ type II diabetic patients like the ACCORD study. The mortality results between the two studies differ considerably, i.e. the ADVANCE study did not see the same link between agressive treatment and death so there is general agreement among the clinicians that the two studies will need to be compared critically to assess the reasons for the outcomes. In the interim the Australian Docs were going to continue treating their patients as before.
One of the ACCORD study directors herself noted that the results could be related to the meds each patient was using at the time - an issue that has been repeatedly pointed out on this forum and others like it.

http://www.reuters.com/article/marke...0080213?rpc=44

"There are some differences between the ACCORD and the ADVANCE studies. We will need to communicate about the data with each other to understand what those differences are," Dr. Denise Simons-Morton, project officer for ACCORD at NHLBI, said in a telephone interview.
"The data I would like to see are exactly what drugs people were on, what were the mortality rates ..." she said.

Alkymst