Table 1.

Cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk factors in type 2 diabetes and type 1 diabetes: Contrasts and commonalities

	Type 1 diabetes	Type 2 diabetes
• Dyslipidemia	• More favorable lipids than nondiabetic individuals	• Low HDL-cholesterol and high triglycerides common
	• Modest CVD risk factor	• Low HDL-cholesterol and elevated triglycerides and LDL-cholesterol associated with CVD
• Hypertension	• High prevalence of hypertension	• Hypertension is common
	• Poorly treated and controlled	• Component of the metabolic syndrome that contributes to type 2 diabetes risk
	• Higher systolic blood pressure and pulse pressure associated with CVD	• Increases the risk of CVD
• Gender	• Women have at least a fourfold increased CVD risk, as compared with a twofold risk in men	• Women have an increased relative risk of CVD, but absolute risk remains lower than in men with type 2 diabetes
	• CVD mortality is the same in men and women with type 1 diabetes	•
• Obesity	• Typically not more obese than the general population	• Obesity is a risk factor for type 2 diabetes
	• Obesity increases risk for CVD	• Visceral adiposity is associated with CVD, independent of diabetes status
	• Extent of atherosclerosis associated with lower adiposity, so relationship not straightforward
• Hyperglycemia	• Intensive treatment and improved blood sugar levels decrease CVD events	• Intensive treatment to normalize blood sugar did not decrease CVD in several trials among type 2 diabetic patients
• Renal disease	• Potent CVD risk factor	• Renal disease often present at time of diagnosis
	• May explain all excess CVD risk in type 1 diabetes	• Lower GFR or proteinuria increase CVD risk