Research has shown that monitoring and maintaining your glycaemic control in order to reduce your risk of cardiovascular disease does not work – in fact, it has been known to result in hospitalisation on those who suffer with type 2 diabetes. Studies into this condition have shown that maintaining positive systolic blood pressure (SBP) and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol levels (LDL) can help to reduce the risk of CVD hospitalisation.
Although previous studies have examined the multi-factorial treatment of cardiometabolic risk factors, the number of studies which look into the simultaneous benefits of risk factor control are limited. In the recent study into this issue, 26,636 patients who had been diagnosed with type 2 diabetes were analysed, but just 1943 individuals were hospitalised because of CVD. This was over an average of 5.6 years. In a follow up study, the HbA1c levels didn’t differ between those who had been hospitalised with CVD and those who hadn’t. The SBP and LDL levels were higher in those were hospitalised though.
The study shows that the proportion of those analysed who maintained control of their HbA1c levels, which is defined as a level lower than seven percent, didn’t vary between those with hospitalisation due to CVD and those without. The percentage of those with controlled SBP and LDL cholesterol levels were lower in those with a CVD hospital visit.
Researchers suggest that the patients with no risk factors or those who only controlled their HbA1c levels were in the group with the highest hospitalisation rates, at 21.0 percent and 15.4 percent respectively. Those with all three risk factors, or controlled levels of SPB and LDL cholesterol had the lowest rates. This study is the first of its kind that simultaneously analyses the contributing risk factors, as a combination of A1C, SBP and LDL as a way of controlling the risk of CVD.
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