Risk factors for cardiovascular mortality and morbidity: The WHO multinational study of vascular disease in diabetes.

Aims/hypothesis. We aimed to examine the associations between classic cardi ovascular risk factors and diabetes specific factors and the incidence of f atal and non-fatal end-points in a large cohort of diabetic patients. Methods. A cohort of 4743 diabetic patients participating in the WHO Multin ational Study of Vascular Disease in Diabetes (WHO MSVDD) has been followed up for about 12 years and the incidence of fatal and non-fatal cardiovascu lar disease outcomes assessed. Results. The importance of blood pressure, serum cholesterol and proteinuri a as predictors for cardiovascular disease mortality, fatal and non-fatal m yocardial infarction and stroke is confirmed for patients with Type I (insu lin-dependent) and Type II (non-insulin-dependent) diabetes mellitus. Serum triglyceride was associated with cardiovascular disease death in Type II d iabetes and in women with Type I diabetes and with MI incidence in Type II diabetes and stroke in Type II diabetic women. Fasting plasma glucose was a ssociated with cardiovascular disease death, incidence of myocardial infarc tion and stroke in Type II diabetes only. In Type II diabetes, multivariate analysis confirmed that fasting plasma glucose was related to cardiovascul ar disease mortality independent of other risk factors. The independent rel ation of triglyceride to cardiovascular disease death was statistically sig nificant only for Type II diabetic men. The presence of retinopathy was rel ated to cardiovascular disease death and incidence of myocardial infarction in both types of diabetes and to stroke in Type II diabetes. Conclusion/interpretation. This large cohort study shows that the assessmen t of cardiovascular disease risk in diabetes must include 'diabetes-related ' variables such as glycaemic control, proteinuria and retinopathy, as well as the classic risk factors, blood pressure, smoking and dyslipidaemia.