In patients with incident T2D and no prior atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (ASCVD), the 5-year risk for first time ischemic stroke was nearly halved from 1996-2015, according to a study published in Diabetes Care. Christine Gyldenkerne, MD, PhD, and colleagues identified all patients with incident T2D (N=288,825) without a prior diagnosis of ASCVD and those from the general population (N=782,232). Each patient was matched by sex and age with up to three individuals from the general population. The 5-year risk for first-time ischemic stroke was approximately halved in the T2D cohort (5.2% vs 2.7%; sex- and age-adjusted HR, 0.52 [95% CI, 0.49–0.55]) between 1996-2000 and 2011-2015. Compared with the general population, patients diagnosed in 2011- 2015 had increased risk for ischemic stroke. However, the risk difference tapered over time (5.2% vs 2.9% in 1996-1999 [difference, 2.3%]; 2.7% vs 2.0% in 2011-2015 [difference, 0.7%]). During the study period, use of prophylactic cardiovascular medications increased considerably, particularly statins (5% to 50%) and multiple antihypertensive drugs (18% to 33%).
