Type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease: Have all risk factors the same strength?

Diabetes mellitus is a chronic condition that occurs when the body cannot produce enough or effectively use of insulin. Compared with individuals without diabetes, patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus have a considerably higher risk of cardiovascular morbidity and mortality, and are disproportionately affected by cardiovascular disease. Most of this excess risk is it associated with an augmented prevalence of well-known risk factors such as hypertension, dyslipidaemia and obesity in these patients.

Microvascular complications and risk factors in patients with type 2 diabetes.

Aim: To conduct a prospective study in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) with no microvascular complications, analyzing the association between various baseline risk factors and development of microvascular complications at follow-up.

Methods: A prospective, observational study in 376 patients with T2DM enrolled in 2004. The clinical end-point was urinary albumin excretion (UAE) > 30mg/24h and/or presence of retinopathy at follow-up in 2007.