Life expectancy following a cardiovascular event in individuals with and without type 2 diabetes: A UK multi-ethnic population-based observational study

Background and aims: We aimed to evaluate the life expectancy following the first car-diovascular disease (CVD) event by type 2 diabetes (T2D) status and ethnicity. Methods and results: We used the Clinical Practice Research Datalink database in England (UK), linked to the Hospital Episode Statistics information, to identify individuals with and without T2D who survived a first CVD event between 1st Jan 2007 and 31st Dec 2017; subsequent death events were extracted from the Office for National Statistics database. Ethnicity was categorised as White, South Asian (SA), Black, or other. Flexible parametric survival models were used to es-timate survival and predict life expectancy. 59,939 individuals with first CVD event were included: 7596 (12.7%) with T2D (60.9% men; mean age at event: 69.7 years [63.2 years in SA, 65.9 in Black, 70.2 in White]) and 52,343 without T2D (56.7% men; 65.9 years [54.7 in Black, 58.2 in SA, 66.3 in White]). Accounting for potential confounders (sex, deprivation, lipid-lowering medication, current smoking, and pre-existing hypertension), comparing individuals with vs without T2D the mortality rate was 53% higher in White (hazard ratio [HR]: 1.53 [95% CI: 1.44, 1.62]), corresponding to a potential loss of 3.87 (3.30, 4.44) life years at the age of 50 years in individuals with T2D. No evidence of a difference in life expectancy was observed in in-dividuals of SA (HR: 0.82 [0.52, 1.29];-1.36 [-4.58, 1.86] life years), Black (HR: 1.26 [0.59, 2.70]; 1.21 [-2.99, 5.41] life years); and other (HR: 1.64 [0.80, 3.39]; 3.89 [-2.28, 9.99] life years) ethnic group.

Automated summary

This study aimed to assess the life expectancy after the first cardiovascular disease (CVD) event based on type 2 diabetes (T2D) status and ethnicity. The results showed that individuals with T2D had lower life expectancy compared to those without T2D, specifically in the White ethnic group, while no significant difference in life expectancy was observed in the South Asian, Black, and other ethnic groups.