Change in cardiovascular risk factors in relation to diabetes status: the Tromso Study

To investigate changes in cardiovascular risk factors over 14 years in relation to diabetes status.

The study is based on 10,327 subjects who attended the Tromsø Study in 1994 and were screened again in 2007-8. At baseline there were 79 prevalent cases, and 397 incident cases of type 2 diabetes mellitus (DM2) were diagnosed between 1994 and 2008.

Cases with DM2 had decreasing levels of high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C), total cholesterol and blood pressure (BP) and increasing levels of triglycerides, body mass index (BMI), and anti-hypertensive treatment during 14 years of follow-up. Despite decreasing BP, more than 75% of the treated cases had BP above 135/80 at the end of follow-up. Similarly, less than 35% of incident cases using statins had low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) below the recommended threshold value of 2.6 mmol/l.

Despite greater relative reduction in cardiovascular risk factors among people with DM2 compared to those without, treatment targets were met in less than 50% of subjects with DM2. Thirteen percent reached the combined targets for glucose, BP and LDL-C control. This indicates a need for more effective strategies to control cardiovascular risk factors especially among individuals with DM2.