Skip to content

Medicine Matters

Sharing successes, challenges and daily happenings in the Department of Medicine

Medicine Matters Home Article of the Week Duration of Diabetes and Incident Heart Failure: The ARIC (Atherosclerosis Risk In Communities) Study

Duration of Diabetes and Incident Heart Failure: The ARIC (Atherosclerosis Risk In Communities) Study

ARTICLE: Duration of Diabetes and Incident Heart Failure: The ARIC (Atherosclerosis Risk In Communities) Study

AUTHORS: Justin B Echouffo-Tcheugui, Sui Zhang, Roberta FloridoCarine Hamo, James S Pankow, Erin D Michos, Ronald B Goldberg, Vijay Nambi, Gary GerstenblithWendy S PostRoger S Blumenthal, Christie M Ballantyne, Josef Coresh, Elizabeth Selvin, Chiadi E Ndumele

JOURNAL: JACC Heart Fail. 2021 Aug;9(8):594-603. doi: 10.1016/j.jchf.2021.06.005.

Abstract

Objectives: This study assessed the association of diabetes duration with incident heart failure (HF).

Background: Diabetes increases HF risk. However, the independent effect of diabetes duration on incident HF is unknown.

Methods: We included 9,734 participants (mean age 63 years, 58% women, 22% Black) at ARIC (Atherosclerosis Risk In Communities) Visit 4 (1996-1998) without HF or coronary heart disease. We calculated diabetes duration at Visit 4 (baseline), utilizing diabetes status at the first 4 ARIC visits spaced 3 years apart, and self-reported diagnosis date for those with diabetes diagnosed before Visit 1. We used Cox regression to estimate associations of diabetes duration with incident HF, accounting for intercurrent coronary heart disease and other risk factors. We performed analyses stratified by age (<65 years or ≥65 years), race, sex, and glycemic control (hemoglobin A1C [HbA1C] consistently <7%, vs HbA1C ≥7%), with tests for interaction.

Results: Over 22.5 years of follow-up, there were 1,968 HF events. Compared to those without diabetes, HF risk rose with longer diabetes duration, with the highest risk among those with ≥15 y diabetes duration (HR: 2.82; 95% CI: 2.25-3.63). Each 5-year increase in diabetes duration was associated with a 17% (95% CI: 11-22) relative increase in HF risk. Similar results were observed across HF subtypes. The HF and diabetes duration associations were stronger among those aged <65 years, those with HbA1C ≥7%, those with a body mass index ≥30 kg/m2, women, and Blacks (all P interactions <0.05).

Conclusions: Delaying diabetes onset may augment HF prevention efforts, and therapies to improve HF outcomes might target those with long diabetes duration.

For the full article, click here.

For a link to the abstract, click here.

nv-author-image

Kelsey Bennett