Diabetes Mellitus Lowers the Risk of Aortic Dissection: a Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Background: This systematic review and meta-analysis aimed to investigate the association between diabetes mellitus and aortic dissection. Methods: The PubMed and Embase databases were searched until December 2019 to identify all articles reporting diabetes mellitus and aortic dissection. The pooled odds ratio and 95% confidence interval were calculated using random-effects model. Results: A total of 14 articles with 15,794 participants, of which 2133 diabetes mellitus patients, were eligible and included in this meta-analysis. The data suggested that diabetes mellitus decreased the risk of aortic dissection. In the subgroup analysis, this association was significant in worldwide studies except for the Chinese cohort and in studies adjusted for confounding factors. The results were stable after sensitivity analysis and no evidence of publication bias was found among studies. Conclusions: The result of this meta-analysis indicated that diabetes mellitus was associated with a lower risk of aortic dissection.

Automated summary

The meta-analysis found that there is a different association between diabetes mellitus and aortic dissection. Global studies showed that diabetes mellitus decreased the risk of aortic dissection, while studies from Chinese cohorts did not find a significant association.