Endocrine Abstracts

Type 2 diabetes (T2DM) is associated with a 2-4 fold increased risk of mortality largely due to cardiovascular disease.

Therefore patients with newly diagnosed (T2DM) are at increased cardiovascular risk and may already have cardiovascular complications. Estimating the risk of future events would be important towards potential preventative measures. Ethics Committee Approval was obtained to estimate the risk of vascular complications in a cohort of newly diagnosed patients with T2DM using the UKPDS risk engine. 48 new patients (35 male and 13 female) were referred between July 2003 and July 2004, to JCMH. The age of the group varied between 26-77 years (mean 55.5y) and the duration of diabetes was between 1-12 months (mean 7.5m).

Fasting blood samples were taken for glucose, lipid profile, HbA1c, C-reactive protein and fibrinogen levels. The risk engine formula was used to determine the risk of vascular complications at 10 years in each sex and in the total group.

The mean HbA1c was 8.6%, 7.8% and 8.4%, the mean systolic blood pressure was 143, 139 and 142, the mean total cholesterol (millimols per litre) was 4.9, 5.6 and 5.1, the mean HDL was 0.97, 1.23 and 1.06 for male, female and the total group respectively.

20 males and 12 females were non-smokers and 9 males and one female were smokers and the rest were Ex-smokers. None of the patients had atrial fibrillation.

The mean 10 years risk for CHD was 17.32%, 29% and 25.89%, for fatal CHD was 12.4%, 18.5% and 16.9%, for stroke was 5.8%, 7% and 6.7% and for fatal stroke was 1.1%, 1.2% and 1.18% for female, male and the total group respectively.

We conclude that the risk of vascular complications in newly diagnosed type 2DM is considerable and highlights the need for aggressive cardiovascular risk factor intervention.