To investigate the clinical characteristics and risk factors of cardiovascular diseases (CVD) in middle-aged and elderly people with type 2 diabetes (T2DM) without a history of cardiovascular disease in western Beijing.

This study is a cross-sectional study. Permanent residents in a community in Shijingshan District of Beijing were selected as the research subjects, and patients with CVD were excluded. The survey content included questionnaire survey, physical examination, and laboratory tests. The questionnaire survey included demographic characteristics, behavior, and personal medical history. Physical examination included height, body mass index (BMI), and blood pressure. Laboratory tests included fasting blood glucose, glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c), total cholesterol (TC), triglycerides (TG), low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C), high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C), peripheral arterial tone measurement, arterial hardness, cardiovascular ankle index (CAVI), ankle brachial index (ABI), carotid intima-media thickness (CIMT), etc. The t-test was used for intergroup comparisons, and count data comparison was performed using the χ² test. Multiple logistic regression analysis was performed to identify the influencing factors of CVD in T2DM patients.

A total of 1575 valid subjects were investigated, including 308 (19.5%) in the diabetes group and 1267 (84.5%) in the non diabetes group. Age, BMI, fasting blood glucose, and HbA1c in the diabetes group were higher than those of the diabetes-free group. Educational level, TC, HDL-C, and LDL-C in the diabetes group were lower than those of the diabetes-free group. The percentages of subjects with smoking, drinking, family history of early cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases, hyperlipidemia, hypertension, cervical vascular sclerosis, plaque, or stenosis in the diabetes group were higher than those of the non-diabetes group. Multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that diabetes was negatively correlated with family history of cardiovascular disease, TC, HDL-C, LDL-C, and normal carotid ultrasound manifestations, and positively correlated with heart rate, brachial ankle artery pulse wave velocity (BA-PWV), and cardiac ankle vascular index (CAVI). That is, the brachial ankle artery in the diabetes group was harder than that in the non-diabetes group, and carotid artery intima thickening and plaque were more common in the diabetes group.

Patients with diabetes are often associated with multiple cardiovascular disease risk factors. Age, BMI, smoking, drinking, family history of early CVD, hyperlipidemia, hypertension, carotid atherosclerosis, and diabetes are positively correlated with diabetes, while patients' education level is negatively correlated with diabetes.