by Colin Kenny, GP, Dromore
This cohort study examined 1,921,260 individuals in England included in four electronic health databases, of whom 1,887,062 (98.2%) did not have diabetes and 34,198 (1.8%) had type 2 diabetes. This analysis identified 113,638 first presentations of cardiovascular disease during a median follow-up of 5.5 years. Of people with type 2 diabetes, 6137 had a first cardiovascular presentation, of which the most common types were peripheral arterial disease and heart failure.
Although type 2 diabetes was most strongly associated with heart failure and peripheral arterial disease, it was also linked to ischaemic stroke, stable angina and non-fatal myocardial infarction. Interestingly, we tend to think about these latter events as being more common. The researchers suggest that the differences between risks of different cardiovascular diseases in people with type 2 diabetes have important implications for clinical risk assessment and patient care.
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