A decade ago, the federal government launched the three-part study to see whether intensely lowering blood sugar, blood pressure, or fats in the blood would reduce heart attacks and strokes in diabetics. The first piece of the study, about blood sugar, was stopped two years ago, when researchers saw more instead of less risk with that approach. Now, the other two parts of the study are in.

The studies were presented yesterday at an American College of Cardiology conference and published on the Internet by the New England Journal of Medicine. They involve people with Type 2 diabetes - the most common form and the one rising because of the obesity epidemic. Diabetics have more than double the risk of dying of heart attacks or strokes than people without the disease.

For the blood-fat study, researchers led by Columbia University's Dr. Henry Ginsburg recruited more than 5,500 diabetics who also had another health risk, such as high blood pressure or cholesterol. All were given a statin - cholesterol-lowering pills known to save lives. Half also were given Abbott Laboratories' blockbuster drug, TriCor; the rest got dummy pills. TriCor is a fibrate, a drug that lowers blood fats called triglycerides while boosting "good" cholesterol.

Nearly five years later, the groups had similar rates of heart attacks and strokes, although people with very high blood fats seemed to benefit from TriCor. There also were signs of a gender difference - TriCor seemed to help men, but it appeared to possibly harm women.

In the blood pressure part of the study, about 4,700 diabetics were treated with various medicines to keep their systolic blood pressure, the top number, either below 140 or below 120. The intense treatment did not reduce the number of heart attacks, although it prevented more strokes, a less common problem. Side effects were greater with the intense treatment.

For now, patients should focus on healthy diets and lifestyles, and take tried-and-true medicines that doctors recommend now to control health risks, said Clyde Yancy, a Baylor University cardiologist and president of the American Heart Association.