The Concept of CMR

Key Points

• Many patients with type 2 diabetes are at high risk of CVD. This increased risk is often similar to that of non-diabetic patients who have experienced myocardial infarction.
• A wealth of evidence indicates that hyperglycemia is a significant contributor—but not the sole contributor—to the increased CVD risk that comes with diabetes.
• Intensive blood glucose control reduces microvascular complications but does not have a substantial effect on macrovascular disease in patients with type 2 diabetes.
• The metabolic syndrome is very common in diabetic patients, and those with diabetes and the metabolic syndrome have the highest CHD rates.
• Evidence is mounting that it is not the hyperglycemic state per se that has the biggest impact on CVD in type 2 diabetes but rather the clustering of abdominal obesity-related risk factors. These factors may be responsible for the high incidence of cardiovascular events in diabetes.