Modest relation between HbA1c, cardiovascular events

(HealthDay)—For patients with type 2 diabetes, hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c) is not significantly associated with cardiovascular events, regardless of clinical manifestation of vascular disease, according to a study published online Aug. 25 in Diabetes Care.

Guido Kranenburg, from the University Medical Center Utrecht in the Netherlands, and colleagues examined the correlation between glycemic control and new cardiovascular events and mortality in 1,687 patients with type 2 diabetes, with and without cardiovascular disease, who were followed for a median of 6.1 years.

The researchers found that the hazard ratio (HR) of the correlation between HbA1c level and cardiovascular events was 1.06 in all patients (95 percent confidence interval [CI], 0.97 to 1.17). There was an increased risk of a cardiovascular event in association with a 1 percent higher HbA1c level for patients with type 2 diabetes without vascular disease (HR, 1.27; 95 percent CI, 1.06 to 1.51), but not in those with vascular disease (HR, 1.03; 95 percent CI, 0.93 to 1.15) (P for interaction = 0.195). Patients with vascular disease had an increased risk of death with a 1 percent higher HbA1c level (HR, 1.16; 95 percent CI, 1.06 to 1.28); the risk was not significant for patients without vascular disease (HR, 1.13; 95 percent CI, 0.97 to 1.31).

"In patients with type 2 diabetes, there is a modest, but not statistically significant, relation between HbA1c level and cardiovascular events, and, as there was no statistically significant interaction, this relation was not different for patients with or without clinical manifestation of vascular disease," the authors conclude.

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