Even Mild Coronary Artery Disease Puts Diabetic Patients at Risk

Diabetic patients with even mild coronary artery disease face the risk of a heart attack, says a large-scale study involving 40,000 patients from 17 centres around the world.

Scientists at the University of British Columbia and St. Paul’s Hospital in Vancouver examined data from the Coronary CT Angiography Evaluation For Clinical Outcomes: An International Multicenter (CONFIRM) Registry.

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The registry, which has cardiac computed tomography angiography (CCTA) data on 40,000 patients from 17 centres around the world, also holds five-year follow-up data on 14,000 patients.

The scientists analyzed data on 1,823 diabetic people who underwent CCTA to detect and determine the extent of coronary artery disease.

They found that both obstructive and mild or non-obstructive coronary artery disease as determined by the computed tomography scanning were related to patient deaths and major adverse cardiovascular event.

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The study found that the relative risk of death or major adverse cardiovascular event for a patient with mild coronary artery disease was comparable to that of patients with single vessel obstructive disease.

“Our five-year follow-up data suggests that non-obstructive and obstructive coronary artery disease in diabetic patients are both associated with higher rates of mortality,” said study co-author Philipp Blanke, radiologist at the University of British Columbia and St. Paul’s Hospital.

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Study’s co-author Jonathan Leipsic, vice chairman of department of radiology at the University of British Columbia, said that, “The CONFIRM Registry is the largest long-term data set available and allowed us to assess the long-term prognostic value of CCTA in diabetic patients.”

The results were presented at the last annual meeting of the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA).