Patterns of weight change after the diagnosis of type 2 diabetes in Scotland and their relationship with glycaemic control, mortality and cardiovascular outcomes: a retrospective cohort study

Objectives To determine weight change patterns in Scottish patients 2 years after diagnosis of type 2 diabetes and to examine these in association with medium-term glycaemic, mortality and cardiovascular outcomes. Setting Using a retrospective cohort design, ethical approval was obtained to link the Scottish diabetes care database to hospital admission and mortality records. Participants 29 316 overweight/obese patients with incident diabetes diagnosed between 2002 and 2006 were identified with relevant information for ≥2 years. Primary and secondary outcome measures Weight records over time provided intrapatient weight change and variation and glycated haemoglobin (HbA1c) gave measures of glycaemic control. These characteristics and demographic variables at diagnosis were linked with notifications of death (2–5 years after diagnosis) and cardiovascular events (0–5 year after diagnosis). Results By 2 years, 36% of patients had lost ≥2.5% of their weight. Increasing age, being female and a higher body mass index at diagnosis were associated with larger proportions of weight lost (p Conclusions Our results suggest that weight loss or being weight stable with little weight variability early after diabetes diagnosis, are associated with better glycaemic control and we identified groups less able to lose weight. With respect to mortality and cardiovascular outcomes, although weight change at 2 years was a weak predictor, major weight variability appeared to be the more relevant factor.