Polyvascular disease and increased risk of cardiovascular events in patients with type 2 diabetes: Insights from the EXSCEL trial.
Samsky MD., Mentz RJ., Stebbins A., Lokhnygina Y., Aday AW., Pagidipati NJ., Jones WS., Katona BG., Patel MR., Holman RR., Hernandez AF., Gutierrez JA.
BACKGROUND AND AIMS: Polyvascular disease is an independent predictor of major adverse cardiovascular events (MACE). The relationship between the number of diseased arterial beds and MACE is unknown. How MACE risk changes in individuals with type 2 diabetes (T2D) is also understudied. Furthermore, it is unknown whether heart failure (HF) status and hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c) levels influence outcomes in polyvascular disease. This analysis from the Exenatide Study of Cardiovascular Event Lowering trial (EXSCEL) aimed to examine the risk associated with increasing number of diseased arterial beds on MACE and all-cause mortality (ACM). METHODS: Cox models were used to test associations between the number of diseased arterial beds and MACE and ACM. Prespecified interaction testing between number of diseased arterial beds with baseline HF, HbA1c (≤8% vs. >8%), and treatment assignment was performed. RESULTS: Overall, 14,751 participants were included; 26.5% were without atherosclerosis, 58.9% had 1-bed, 12.3% had 2-bed, and 2.3% had 3-bed disease. An increasing burden of atherosclerotic disease was associated with increasing risk of MACE (adjusted HR [aHR] 1.71 [95% CI 1.46-2.02]; 2.61 [2.17-3.15]; 3.46 [2.69-4.45] for 1, 2, and 3 beds, respectively, p