The impact of Type 2 diabetes and microalbuminuria on future cardiovascular events in patients with clinically manifest vascular disease from the Second Manifestations of ARTerial disease (SMART) study

Aims Type 2 diabetes mellitus and microalbuminuria are important risk factors for cardiovascular disease (CVD). Whether these two complications are important and independent risk factors for future CVD events in a high-risk population with clinically manifest vascular disease is unknown. The objectives of this study were to examine the impact of Type 2 diabetes and microalbuminuria on future CVD events. Methods Patients with clinically manifest vascular disease (coronary, cerebral and peripheral vascular disease) from the Second Manifestation of Arterial disease study were followed up for 4 years. Data obtained from 1996–2006 were analysed. At baseline, there were 804 patients with Type 2 diabetes mellitus (mean age 60 years) and 2983 patients without. Incident CVD (n = 458) was defined as hospital-verified myocardial infarction, stroke, vascular death and the composite of these vascular events. Results Both Type 2 diabetes [hazard ratio (HR) 1.42, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.16, 1.75] and microalbuminuria (HR 1.86, 95% CI 1.49, 2.33) increased the risk of new cardiovascular events in univariate analyses. From multivariable models, presence of diabetes remained significantly and independently related to incident CVD (HR 1.42, 95% CI 1.11, 1.80). Presence of microalbuminuria also remained significantly independently related to incident CVD (HR 1.38, 95% CI 1.07, 1.77). In diabetes-stratified analyses, the effect of microalbuminuria on CVD risk was observed only in patients with diabetes. In microalbuminuria-stratified analyses, the significant and independent effect of diabetes on CVD risk was shown only in the non-microalbuminuric group. Conclusions In this high-risk population, both microalbuminuria and Type 2 diabetes are important and independent risk factors for future CVD