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Severe hypoglycemia linked to greater risk for CVD
Severe hypoglycemia in patients with type 2 diabetes is associated with a greater risk for cardiovascular disease, according to recent study results published in the British Medical Journal.
“The association of severe hypoglycemia with a higher risk of cardiovascular disease is biologically plausible. The sympathetic nervous response to severe hypoglycemia increases catecholamine levels, resulting in acute adverse effects on the myocardium and the vascular system. The increase in catecholamine also leads to platelet activation, leukocyte mobilization, and coagulation, which may trigger cardiovascular disease events,” researchers wrote.
Six of 3,443 observational studies that included data for 903,510 patients were collected from Medline, Embase, the Cochrane Library and Web of Science databases for the meta-analysis.
According to data, severe hypoglycemia was significantly associated with a greater risk for CVD in the conventional random effects meta-analysis (RR=2.05; 95% CI, 1.74-2.42). Additionally, researchers discovered an excess fraction of CVD incidence due to severe hypoglycemia (1.56%; 95% CI, 1.32-1.81).
“Although moderate heterogeneity across the studies was indicated, most subgroups showed similar results in stratified analyses,” researchers wrote.
These data are consistent with the recommendations by the American Diabetes Association and the European Association for the Study of Diabetes, in that a patient-centered approach is a suitable intervention for all patients with type 2 diabetes, the researchers wrote.
Disclosure: The researchers report no relevant financial disclosures.