Quantitative measure of asymptomatic cardiovascular disease risk in Type 2 diabetes: Evidence from Indian outpatient setting

The cardiovascular (CV) risk of patients with Type 2 diabetes (T2D) of Indo-Asian descent has never been objectively assessed, although it is documented that they have a higher prevalence of CV disease (CVD).

To identify groups of Indian patients with asymptomatic T2D who are at high risk of CVD as per the QRISK calculator.

After an adequate power calculation, a nation-wide study of patients with asymptomatic T2D was conducted. The QRISK3 scores of these patients were used to derive a 10-year risk of CV events. High CVD risk was defined as ≥20% risk of CV event in 10 years.

For a total of 1538 patients across 154 outpatient departments, the QRISK3 scores were collated. Median 10-year CVD risk was 22.2%. Mean 10-year CVD risk was 28.4% (standard deviation 22.1%), representing a 5.7-fold increase vs. controls (i.e., matched healthy adults). Absolute CVD risk increased linearly with age. Over 50% of T2D males aged above 45 years had a high (>20%) CVD risk. Women aged more than 55 years had a high risk of CVD. More than 50% of patients with a T2D duration of more than 5 years had a high risk of CVD as per the QRISK3 calculator.