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The following is a summary of “2-Fold More Cardiovascular Disease Events Decades Before Type 2 Diabetes Diagnosis: A Nationwide Registry Study,” published in the December 2024 issue of Cardiology by Gyldenkerne et al.    

People with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) face a high risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD), but the timing of this elevated risk before diagnosis is not well understood.  

Researchers conducted a retrospective study to examine CVD occurrence up to 30 years before and 5 years after a diagnosis of type 2 diabetes.  

They included individuals diagnosed with type 2 diabetes in Denmark (2010 and 2015) n=127,092 and matched comparisons n=381,023. Conditional logistic regression was used to compute ORs for the prevalence of CVD in the 30 years before diagnosis, and Cox proportional hazards regression models to calculate HRs for 5-year CVD incidence after diagnosis.  

The results showed that, in the 30 years before diagnosis, 14,179 (11.2%) individuals with type 2 diabetes and 17,871 (4.7%) comparisons experienced CVD. The odds of CVD were higher for individuals with type 2 diabetes, ranging from 2.18 (95% CI: 1.91-2.48) in the earliest period (25-30 years before diagnosis) to 2.96 (95% CI: 2.85-3.08) in the latest period (less than 5 years before diagnosis). After diagnosis, the 5-year CVD incidence was higher for individuals with type 2 diabetes (HR: 2.20; 95% CI: 2.12-2.27).  

They concluded that individuals with type 2 diabetes experienced twice the number of CVD events compared to matched controls, starting up to 30 years before diagnosis, suggesting that early preventive strategies may be necessary.  

Source: jacc.org/doi/10.1016/j.jacc.2024.06.050