Microvascular Disease, Cardiovascular Health, and Risk of Coronary Heart Disease in Type 2 Diabetes: A UK Biobank Study.

Context: The interplay between cardiovascular health metrics (CVHMs) and microvascular disease (MVD) in relation to the risk of incident coronary heart disease (CHD) among individuals with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) remains to be evaluated.

Objective: To investigate the role of MVD and CVHMs in the development of CHD among T2DM.

Design: We included 19 664 participants with T2DM from the UK Biobank who had CVHM data and were free of CHD during recruitment. CVHMs were defined based on 5 behavioral (body mass index, diet, sleep duration, smoking, and regular exercise) and 3 biological (glycemic control, hyperlipidemia, and hypertension) factors. MVD was defined as the presence of retinopathy, peripheral neuropathy, or chronic kidney disease. Hazard ratio (HR) and 95% CI of CHD were estimated by multivariable Cox regression models.

Results: There were 3252 incident cases of CHD recorded after a median follow-up of 12.3 years. After multivariable adjustment, each MVD was separately associated with risk of CHD, and those who had 1 or ≥ 2 MVD had a 27% and an 87% increased risk of developing CHD, respectively. Each unfavorable CVHM was associated with a higher risk of CHD. As compared with MVD-free participants who had ideal CVHMs, those who had ≥ 2 MVD and had poor CVHMs were at particularly high risk of incident CHD (HR = 4.58; 95% CI: 3.58, 5.86), similarly when considering behavioral CVH or biological CVH separately. On an additive scale, there was a positive statistically significant interaction between number of MVD and CVHMs.

Conclusion: Coexistence of multiple MVDs was associated with a substantially higher risk of CHD among individuals with T2DM. Such association may be amplified by unfavorable CVHMs.