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EURODIAB: Severe hypoglycemic episodes in type 1 diabetes unrelated to CV risk factors
Frequent severe hypoglycemic episodes in patients with type 1 diabetes failed to increase the risk for cardiovascular disease, according to data in a prospective study.
Previous studies have highlighted CVD risk and hypoglycemia in patients with type 2 diabetes. However, patients with type 1 diabetes are at greater risk for hypoglycemia, prompting researchers from the EURODIAB Prospective Complications Study to examine a large, 7-year cohort to find a relationship with CVD risk in these patients.
Gabriella Gruden, PhD, a researcher in the department of internal medicine at the University of Turin, Italy, and colleagues included 2,181 men and women aged 15 to 60 years with type 1 diabetes (85% of original cohort) from the EURODIAB study.
Severe hypoglycemia was determined on information provided via questionnaires at baseline and follow-up. Follow-up occurred 6 to 8 years later, during which time additional mortality and morbidity forms were collected from the 31 centers in 16 European countries, and 176 patients reported CVD.
However, severe hypoglycemia at baseline was not related to incidence of CVD in one to two episodes (OR=0.87; 95% CI, 0.55-1.37) or three or more episodes (OR=1.09; 95% CI, 0.68-1.75), they said.
“In conclusion, our data suggest that severe hypoglycemic episodes in type 1 diabetes are not associated with changes in either nontraditional CV risk factors or an increase in the incidence of CVD. Therefore, our data do not support the hypothesis that severe hypoglycemia in patients with type 1 diabetes increases the risk of CVD,” Gruden and colleagues said.
Disclosure: The researchers report no relevant financial disclosures.