Table 1.

The main (sub)domains identified to quantify the severity of type 2 diabetes

	Severity domain	Severity subdomain
1.	Risk factors*	Duration of type 2 diabetes40 Body mass index (BMI) Hypertension Hyperlipidaemia Personal/Family history of cardiovascular disease Blood glucose levels Glycated haemoglobin (HbA1c)35 Fasting blood glucose (FBG) and random blood glucose (RBG)
2.	Type/pattern of anti-diabetic treatment, insulin use and other therapies	Anti-diabetic therapy ever;40 Therapies with cardiovascular benefits versus other; Changes in drug treatments;43 or the number of prescribed treatments42 Insulin use: prescription ever or within 1 year of diagnosis; Insulin initiation:15 time to initiation Other therapies: ACE inhibitors (ACEI) and lipid-regulating therapies
3.	Diabetes-related microvascular complications15 34	Neuropathy (foot ulcer, Charcot foot, gangrene, amputation) Nephropathy Retinopathy (laser therapy and blindness)
4.	Renal disease	Microalbuminuria and proteinuria Moderate-severe chronic kidney disease (CKD) stages 3 and 434 End-stage renal disease (ESRD): kidney transplant and dialysis
5.	Cardiovascular and cerebrovascular disease	Atherosclerosis15 34 Myocardial infarction (MI)15 34 Angina15 34 Atrial/ventricular fibrillation (AF)/(VF)34 Heart valve disease Heart failure (HF)34 Peripheral vascular disease (PVD)34 Transient ischaemic attack (TIA) Ischaemic stroke, haemorrhagic stroke15 34
6.	Cardiovascular and cerebrovascular interventions	Coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) Coronary artery interventions (PCI/PTCA) Endovascular aneurysm repair (EVAR) PVD stenting and bypass procedures Heart valve interventions Use of defibrillator Carotid artery events, stenting and bypass interventions
7.	Other comorbidities	Anxiety Depression Dementia Cognitive impairment
8.	Hospital admissions	Any-cause hospital admissions Diabetes-attributable admission Cardiovascular disease-related admission
9.	Emergency diabetes-related events	Hypoglycaemia Hyperosmolar hyperglycaemic state (HHS)34 Diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA) or other coma34

*Other demographic data (such as age, gender and the level of deprivation) are important predictors for adverse outcomes and will be included in the later risk prediction analysis.