Background

Most patients with type 2 diabetes (T2DM) suffer from multiple additional comorbidities, especially cardiovascular (CV) diseases such as coronary heart disease and heart failure, or have experienced previous events, such as myocardial infarction or stroke.

Less is known about the long-term CV treatment and treatment-associated outcomes of these patients, as real-world evidence studies mostly focus on one specific disease and associated outcomes.

Current clinical guidelines recommend an appropriate management of CV comorbidities with cardiovascular medications.

Study objectives

Description of the real-life medication of patients with T2DM who suffer from at least one incident CV comorbidity.

Comparison of treatment patterns of these patients with guideline recommendations for prevention of subsequent CV events.

Evaluation of impact of guideline non-adherence on the CV event risk, hospitalization rates and mortality risk.

Key learning points

Drug treatment of a substantial proportion of patients with T2DM with an incident CV comorbidity did not follow guideline recommendations for prevention of subsequent CV events.

In result, mortality risk and CV event rates were found to be considerably higher in this patient cohort than in respective clinical trials.

We strongly recommend that the drug treatment of this population be more closely monitored and that guideline-adherent treatment included as an indicator of be quality management in healthcare.