The Independent Effect of Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus on Ischemic Heart Disease, Stroke, and Death

Epidemiological studies have reported that patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (DM) have increased mortality and morbidity from cardiovascular diseases, independent of other risk factors. However, most of these studies have been performed in selected patient groups. The purpose of the present study was prospectively to assess the impact of type 2 DM on cardiovascular morbidity and mortality in an unselected population.

A total of 13,105 subjects from the Copenhagen City Heart Study were followed up prospectively for 20 years. Adjusted relative risks of first, incident, admission for, or death from ischemic heart disease, acute myocardial infarction, or stroke, as well as total mortality in persons with type 2 DM compared with healthy controls, were estimated.