Objectives: The goal of this study was to examine the impact of diabetes and prior myocardial infarction (MI) on mortality in men.
Background: Previous studies have suggested that a history of diabetes and a prior MI confer similar risk for subsequent fatal coronary heart disease (CHD). Few studies have examined duration of diabetes in relation to mortality.
Methods: We examined type 2 diabetes and prior MI in relation to mortality among 51,316 men aged 40 to 75 years in the Health Professionals Follow-up Study.
Results: During 10 years of follow-up, we documented 4,150 deaths from all causes, including 1,124 deaths from CHD. Compared with men without diabetes or prior MI at baseline, the multivariate relative risks (RRs) for fatal CHD were 3.84 (95% confidence interval [CI], 3.12 to 4.71) for those with diabetes only, 7.88 (95% CI, 6.86 to 9.05) for those with MI only, and 13.41 (95% CI, 10.49 to 17.16) for those with both diabetes and MI. The corresponding RRs for total mortality were 1.91 (95% CI, 1.70 to 2.15), 2.23 (95% CI, 2.03 to 2.45), and 3.13 (95% CI, 2.56 to 3.84), respectively. Duration of diabetes was an independent risk factor for total as well as CHD mortality; the multivariate RRs of CHD mortality for increasing duration of diabetes (< or = 5 years, 6 to 10 years, 11 to 15 years, 16 to 25 years, 26+ years) were 1.63, 1.93, 2.35, 2.31, and 3.87, respectively (p for trend <0.001), compared with nondiabetic participants.
Conclusions: These findings support that both diabetes and MI are associated with elevated total and CHD mortality, and having both conditions is particularly hazardous. Longer duration of diabetes is a strong predictor of death among diabetic men.