A prospective study of cardiovascular disease in patients with Type 2 diabetes. 6.3 years of follow-up.

Objective: Type 2 diabetes mellitus (DM-2) is an important cardiovascular risk factor, although hardly any data are available in our country. Therefore, we decided to study the incidence of cardiovascular disease (CVD) and the related variables with its appearance in a group of patients with DM-2.

Research Design And Methods: 176 DM-2 patients without CVD at baseline (63.6% women, mean age 54+/-8.9), mean follow-up 6.3 years. We collected data at 6-month intervals concerning new micro- and macrovascular complications, glucose, HbA(1C), lipid profile, and renal function. We analyzed values at baseline and at the end of follow-up. For numeric variables, the mean value during follow-up was calculated. In renal function variables, we also worked out the difference between baseline and final values, considering the time until the first episode of CVD as the independent variable. Kaplan-Meier analysis was used in categorical variables and Cox regression tests for numeric data and also for multivariate analysis. In multivariate analysis, we included significant data in the univariate analysis, excluding those from the end of the follow-up with the aim of having some predictive meaning in our results.

Results: New episodes of CVD were detected in 28 patients (15.9%). These events were statistically related with baseline diagnosed hypertension, presence of diabetic nephropathy and retinopathy, HbA(1C), and total cholesterol. Among mean values during follow-up, the association was with HbA(1C), cholesterol, urinary albumin excretion rate (UAER), glomerular filtration rate (GFR), and systolic arterial pressure. There was also a relationship of CVD events with the new appearance or worsening of diabetic retinopathy or nephropathy, creatinine and UAER increase and the decrease of GFR and effective renal plasma flow (ERPF), during follow-up. In the multivariate analysis, we found an independent association with the appearance of CVD and mean HbA(1C), mean UAER and the presence of proliferative diabetic retinopathy at baseline.

Conclusions: We have a rather low incidence of CVD in our patients with DM-2. The appearance of CVD is independently related with HbA(1C), the level of UAER, and the presence at baseline of diabetic retinopathy.