Diabetes associated residual atherosclerotic cardiovascular risk in statin-treated patients with prior atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease

AimIn statin-treated persons with atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (ASCVD) the further ASCVD risk that diabetes mellitus (DM) adds is not well-quantified. We examined this residual risk for initial and total recurrent ASCVD events.MethodsWe studied 3271 patients with ASCVD on statin therapy in the AIM-HIGH clinical trial cohort. Cox regression and the Prentice, Williams, and Peterson model examined the excess risk of initial and total recurrent ASCVD events associated with DM over a 3- year mean follow-up. Predictors of first and total ASCVD events in those with and without DM were also examined.ResultsOf our cohort with ASCVD on statin therapy 40% also had DM. Those with vs. without DM were older, were less likely to be male or white. They had higher systolic blood pressure, lower HDL-C, LDL-C, lipoprotein (a), but higher triglycerides and BMI (all p