While type 1 and type 2 diabetes are both associated with an increased risk of cardiovascular disease, two cohort studies investigating trends in non-coronary arterial complications in people with either type 1 or type 2 diabetes based on the Swedish National Diabetes Register (NDR) between 2001 and 2019 found significant decreases in incidences of extracranial large artery disease, lower extremity artery disease and diabetic foot disease in people with type 1 or type 2 diabetes.

 

Yet both types of diabetes remained strongly associated with higher incidences of extracranial large artery disease and lower extremity artery disease compared with controls.

The authors also reported incidences of aortic aneurism and aortic dissection, which in general were low and stable over time in people with diabetes.

Furthermore, the authors examined the relative prognostic impact of cardiometabolic risk factors and demonstrated that each cardiometabolic risk factor within target was associated with a reduced relative risk of outcomes.

Both papers add valuable insights to our current understanding of the risk of non-coronary arterial complications in patients with diabetes and the prognostic importance of modifiable risk factors.

Both studies were published in The Lancet Regional Health—Europe recently.