RISK-1: One-year Retrospective Study to Assess Cardiovascular Risk at the Onset of Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus in Slovenia

Abstract

Background: RISK-1, a non-interventional, retrospective, multicenter study in T2DM patients in Slovenia, explored preventive and therapeutic measures by CV risk category. Methods: The study comprised a retrospective chart review of newly diagnosed T2DM patients (≥18 years) over a 1-year period in 2018. Results: Male patients comprised 61.5%; mean age, 58.6 years; mean weight, 91.8 kg; mean height, 170.3 cm; and mean BMI, 31.7 kg/m2. The BMI of 58.7% of patients was ≥30 kg/m2; 40.6% had high systolic BP and/or diastolic BP. A total of 17.5% of patients were active smokers, and 6.3% were former smokers. Mean HbA1c was 8.5%. Most patients (90.9%) had dyslipidemia, while 94.4% had LDL cholesterol ≥1.8 mmol/L. More than half of the patients (67.1%) were sedentary, and 88.8% had unhealthy food habits. A total of 29.4% of patients had a family history of CVD. Most patients, irrespective of age, HbA1c, and BMI, had ≥1 CV risk factor; several parameters had a weak correlation with CVD risk. For age, the correlation coefficients for CVD, diabetic complications (DC), and both were 0.237 (p=0.0033), 0.197 (p=0.0540), and 0.131 (p=0.1745), respectively; for BMI, the correlation coefficients were 0.127 (p=0.1226), 0.042 (p=0.6229), and 0.153 (p=0.0399), respectively. The correlation with CVD and DC was not significant for HbA1c. Conclusion: At the onset of T2DM diagnosis, patients already had several CV risk factors. The incidence of overt CVD was 34.7%. For early intervention, we suggest implementation of more aggressive preventive and therapeutic measures in clinical practice at a national level.