Early diabetes education and long-term cardiovascular outcomes among adults with newly diagnosed Type 2 diabetes.
Abstract
Aims
To assess whether early diabetes education after incident type 2 diabetes diagnosis was associated with lower long-term risk of myocardial infarction, heart failure, and stroke.
Methods
We analyzed electronic health records (EHR) for 134,411 patients diagnosed with type 2 diabetes (T2DM) from 2008 to 2019, comparing those who never enrolled in any diabetes education classes or were not involved in individual counseling to those who attended classes within the 3 months of their initial diagnosis. Using Cox proportional hazards models, we estimated hazard ratios (HR) for myocardial infarction (MI), heart failure (HF), and stroke over a 12-year follow-up period.
Results
Compared to patients who never took any diabetes education classes, those who enrolled were at lower risk of MI [HR: 0.77 (95% CI 0.69, 0.87), HF [HR: 0.84 (95% CI 0.75, 0.94)] and stroke (HR: 0.84 (95% CI 0.75, 0.93)] after adjustment for demographic and clinical risk factors.
Conclusions
Early diabetes education was associated with lower long-term cardiovascular risk among adults with newly diagnosed type 2 diabetes. These findings support timely referral to structured diabetes self-management education in primary care.