Joint effect of blood pressure and glycemic variation on the risk of cardiovascular morbidity and mortality in persons with type 2 diabetes.

OBJECTIVE:Few studies have explored the association of visit-to-visit variation in blood pressure (BP) and glycemic factors with cardiovascular disease (CVD) morbidity and mortality. This study aimed to examine the independent and joint effect of visit-to-visit BP and glycemic variation on CVD morbidity and mortality in persons with T2DM. METHODS:The present study consisted of two retrospective cohort studies. The Taiwan Diabetes Study was based on a database of the National Diabetes Care Management Program (DCMP) and linked with cardiovascular morbidity incidence. The Taichung Diabetes Study was based on the DCMP database of a medical center, which can be linked with the National Death Registry dataset. The outcomes were analyzed by using Cox's proportional hazard models. RESULTS:A total of 13,280 and 10,894 persons with T2DM in Taiwan and Taichung Diabetes Study, respectively, were included. SBP-CV, FPG-CV, and HbA1c-CV were significant predictors of stroke, CVD event or death, all-cause mortality, and expanded CVD mortality, whereas DBP-CV was a significant predictor of all-cause mortality and expanded and non-expanded CVD mortality. The joint effect of SBP, FPG, and HbA1c predicted the incidence of stroke and CVD event or death with increased risks of 16 %-35 %. In addition, the joint effect of SBP, DBP, FPG, and HbA1c was associated with all-cause and expanded CVD mortality with increased risks of 29 %-81 %. CONCLUSIONS:The joint effect of BP and glucose variation improved the prediction of cardiovascular morbidity and mortality. Moreover, simultaneous measurement of visit-to-visit BP and glycemic variation may stratify persons with cardiovascular risks and may be regarded as important therapeutic goals in the care of T2DM.