In other words, proactive screening for coronary heart disease in patients with type 1 diabetes and type 2 diabetes who have not developed cardiac symptoms does not reduce long-term mortality rates, or even the risk of heart attack or stroke – in this group of patients.
Although coronary heart disease and diabetes are often comorbidities in these patients,
A diagnosis of diabetes does not necessarily mean a risk of coronary heart disease.
One of the lead authors, Dr. J. Brent Muhlestein, co-director of cardiovascular research at Intermountain Health, summarizes: “conducting this type of screening in these diabetic patients does not induce any significant difference in their survival rates” .
The study analyzes data from the FACTOR-64 study, a randomized clinical trial involving 900 participants with type 1 or 2 diabetes for at least 3 to 5 years, free of symptoms of coronary heart disease. 452 participants underwent coronary CT angiography, a type of imaging that provides a 3D image of the heart. The researchers compared these participants to a control group of 448 diabetic participants, treated with the standard care protocol. The analysis reveals that:
- This imaging screening for cardiovascular disease had no significant effect on all-cause mortality rates or the incidence of cardiac events at 4 to 5 years.
The study thus suggests that
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The use of cardiac screening imaging is not useful in diabetic patients who have no symptoms of heart disease.
Additionally, the study also shows that patients who carefully manage their diabetes can live almost as long as people without diabetes. which illustrates both the progress made in the treatment of diabetes but also in the therapeutic education of diabetic patients (ETP).
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