ABSTRACT
We retrospectively analyzed survival in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (DM) after first acute myocardial infarction (AMI). The study was conducted in 5 sites in Poland and involved 521 patients who survived more than 30 days after AMI. In the 5-year period after the acute event, we investigated the following cardiovascular (CV) outcomes: death (overall mortality), next MI, stroke, hospitalization due to acute coronary symptoms (HACS), and composite outcomes (whichever occurred first). We also assessed: age, smoking habit, obesity, hypertension, dyslipidemia and coronary artery disease (CAD) diagnosed before AMI, and gender. 269 patients (52%) suffered one of the outcomes from the composite CV endpoint. HACS was the first event in 164 cases, MI in 59, death in 32, and stroke in 14 patients. Analyzing the prevalence of individual CV events, we found: HACS in 184 patients (35%), next MI in 79 patients (15%), death in 59 patients (11%), and stroke in 30 patients (6%). Only dyslipidemia, arterial hypertension, and CAD were independent risk factors with an impact on composite CV endpoint. Other analyzed risk factors like smoking and obesity did not have independent effects on the CV risk. In the retrospective analysis, we found that HACS was the most frequent CV event in individuals with type 2 DM after AMI. The CV risk in type 2 diabetics who suffered at least one myocardial infarction was further increased in those with coexisting dyslipidemia, arterial hypertension or CAD. These findings support the current guidelines which recommend aggressive management of CV risk factors including hypertension, dyslipidemia and CAD before a first myocardial infarction.
