Improving Risk Factors May Cut Risk of Cardiovascular Outcomes, Mortality

By DocWire News Editors - Last Updated: August 16, 2018

Patients with type 2 diabetes who improve several risk factors saw a reduction in the risk of death, myocardial infarction, or stroke, a new study in the New England Journal of Medicine reported. 

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Researchers for the study included 271,174 patients with type 2 diabetes and matched them with 1,355,870 matched controls. The authors specifically focused on 5 risk factors in patients with diabetes: elevated glycated hemoglobin levels, elevated LDL-C level, albuminuria, smoking, and elevated blood pressure. They used Cox regression models to evaluate excess risk of outcomes and looked at the relationship between the risk factors and cardiovascular outcomes. 

According to the results, the excess risk of outcomes decreased for each factor that was brought to within target range. In patients who brought all five risk factors into range, hazard ratios were 1.06 (95% CI, 1.00 to 1.12) for death from any cause, 0.84 (95% CI, 0.75 to 0.93) for myocardial infarction, and 0.95 (95% CI, 0.84 to 1.07) for stroke. Risk for hospitalization due to heart failure was higher in patients with diabetes. Smoking was the strongest predictor of death, and glycated hemoglobin levels outside of target range were the strongest predictors of stroke.  

“Patients with type 2 diabetes who had five risk-factor variables within the target ranges appeared to have little or no excess risk of death, myocardial infarction, or stroke, as compared with the general population,” the researchers wrote in their abstract. 

Source: New England Journal of Medicine 

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