On the importance of global cardiovascular risk assessment in people with type 2 diabetes

This narrative review examines the concept of diabetes as a cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk equivalent, the rationale and approaches to absolute CVD risk estimation in type 2 diabetes. In people with diabetes, CVD risk follows a gradient. Reliably capturing this gradient depends on the combination of several risk factors. Existing CVD risk tools applicable to people with diabetes have shown a modest-to-acceptable performance. Future improvements may include updating existing models or constructing new ones with improved predictive accuracy. Ultimately, developed models should be tested in independent populations, and the impact of their uptake on clinical decision making and the outcome of care assessed. (C) 2013 Primary Care Diabetes Europe. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.