Risk factors of cardiovascular death in diabetic patients

In 1974 a cross-sectional study was conducted on 4591 out-patients (2095 males and 2496 females) aged 18-67 years, with diabetes of 1-10 years duration, and cardiovascular fatalities followed for 10 years. A multiple logistic regression was then performed on total cardiovascular deaths, deaths from ischaemic heart disease, and from stroke on selected baseline variables related to the course and control of diabetes, selected symptoms of macroangiopathy, and other risk factors, separately for insulin-treated and non-insulin-treated patients. Hyperglycaemia, proteinuria, arterial hypertension, various symptoms of ischaemic heart disease, age, and current cigarette smoking were found to be important predictors of cardiovascular mortality, more so in non-insulin-treated than in insulin-treated patients. Proteinuria and arterial hypertension carried a greater risk in females than males, but the opposite was true for the signs and symptoms of ischaemic heart disease. Relative body mass was found to correlate inversely with probability of cardiovascular death among insulin-treated males but not in non-insulin-treated males, whereas duration of diabetes was a significant factor only among non-insulin-treated females.