Risk factors for microvascular and macrovascular complications in men and women with type 2 diabetes

Objective - To evaluate the importance of risk factors for microvascular and macrovascular complications, separated by sex, in type 2 diabetes. Design - Cross-sectional surveys of diabetic patients registered with primary health services in 1995. Setting - Three community health centres in Stockholm County. Subjects - 407 subjects with type 2 diabetes in 1995. For 78 of these, data were also registered in 1992. Main outcome measures - Odds ratio (OR) by logistic regression for risk factors predicting microvascular and macrovascular complications, for age and duration in years. Results - For microvascular complications, the most important factors were in men the duration of diabetes (OR 1.13, p < 0.001) and in women the duration of diabetes (OR 1.08, p < 0.001) and age (OR 1.04, p < 0.05). For macrovascular complications, the most important factors were in men, age (OR 1.09, p < 0.001) and hypertension (OR 4.85, p < 0.001) and in women, age (OR 1.08, p < 0.001) and duration of diabetes (OR 1.08, p < 0.01). Conclusions- Hypertension is more important among men and the duration of diabetes among women as risk factor for macrovascular complications in type 2 diabetes.