Determinants of incident atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease events among individuals with type 2 diabetic microvascular complications in the UK: a prospective cohort study

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the association of atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (ASCVD) risk factors with incident ASCVD events among type 2 diabetes (T2D) individuals with microvascular complications. METHODS: We included T2D participants with only microvascular complications from the UK Biobank cohort at baseline (2006–2010). Multivariable-adjusted Cox proportional hazards models were used to study the association between ASCVD risk factors with adjudicated incident ASCVD in T2D participants with only microvascular complications. A restricted cubic spline approach was employed to evaluate potential nonlinear associations between ASCVD risk factors and ASCVD. RESULTS: We studied 4,129 T2D individuals with microvascular complications at baseline. Over a median follow-up of 11.7 years, a total of 1,180 cases of incident ASCVD were documented, of which 1,040 were CHD, 100 were stroke, and 40 were both CHD and stroke events. After multivariable-adjustment, high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) level was linearly associated with a decreased risk of incident ASCVD [hazard ratio (HR): 0.49, 95% Confidence interval (CI): 0.32–0.75, P(linear) = 0.011] and each 10 nmol/L increase of lipoprotein(a) [Lp(a)] level (HR: 1.02, 95% CI: 1.00-1.04, P(linear) = 0.012) was linearly associated with an increased risk of incident ASCVD in T2D participants with only microvascular complications. CONCLUSION: HDL-C levels and Lp(a) levels (per 10 nmol/L) showed an independent linear relation with ASCVD risk among T2D individuals with only microvascular complications at long-term follow-up. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s13098-023-01152-4.