Differences in clinical characteristics between patients with and without type 2 diabetes hospitalized with a first myocardial infarction

Abstract

Aims To explore differences in clinical characteristics of patients with and without type 2 diabetes (T2DM) hospitalized with a first myocardial infarction (MI). Methods In this cross-sectional study we examined differences between patients with and without T2DM hospitalized with a first MI (n = 563). Multiple linear regression modeling was used to examine the association between T2DM and age of occurrence of MI. We adjusted for gender, systolic blood pressure (BP), lipids and creatinine level to examine whether these variables explained the association between T2DM and age of occurrence of MI. Results Among 563 patients with a first MI, T2DM patients (n = 77) were older than non-diabetic patients (67.8 ± 10.9 vs. 64.4 ± 13.4 years, p < 0.05), had lower LDL (2.5 ± 0.8 vs. 3.4 ± 1.1 mmol/l, p < 0.001) and total cholesterol levels (4.4 ± 0.9 vs. 5.4 ± 1.2 mmol/l, p < 0.001), but higher systolic BP (150.3 ± 29.9 vs. 141.7 ± 27.5 mmHg, p < 0.05). The association between T2DM and age of occurrence of MI was largely explained by cholesterol levels. Conclusions T2DM patients were older when hospitalized with a first MI. This difference was largely explained by differences in cholesterol levels. The lower cholesterol levels in T2DM patients compared to non-diabetic patients, and maybe also the older age of occurrence of MI, might reflect the results successful primary prevention and systematic monitoring in T2DM.