Evaluation of glycemic control, arterial stiffness, and hypertension improves risk of macrovascular complications

The authors reported the following findings:

· The mean age of this population was 59.90 years. During a median follow-up of 4.0 years, 19.2% of patients developed macrovascular complications.

· Patients with severe arterial stiffness and poor glycemic control, compared to the standard arterial stiffness and good glycemic control group had the greatest risk of macrovascular complications (HR: 2.73).

· Patients wuth hypertension and severe arterial stiffness had the highest risk (HR: 2.69).

· Patients with a composite score > 2 had a significantly increased risk of macrovascular complications.

"Findings from longitudinal cohort study suggested that the combined evaluation of glycemic control, arterial stiffness, and hypertension status could improve the risk stratification of macrovascular complications in diabetes patients," the researchers wrote in their study. Among patients with poor glycemic control or hypertension, the effect becomes notable from the moderate arterial stiffness.

"This provided novel insights into the preventive strategies against macrovascular complications from the perspective of combined intervention of glucose metabolism and arterial function."

In addition, the authors also established a cumulative and weighted risk score by arterial stiffness, hypertension status, and glycemic control for the risk stratification of diabetic macrovascular complications.

Reference:

Wu, Z., Yu, S., Zhang, H. et al. Combined evaluation of arterial stiffness, glycemic control and hypertension for macrovascular complications in type 2 diabetes. Cardiovasc Diabetol 21, 262 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12933-022-01696-1