Prevalence of micro- and macrovascular diabetes complications at time of type 2 diabetes diagnosis and associated clinical characteristics: A cross-sectional baseline study of 6958 patients in the Danish DD2 cohort

To examine the prevalence of micro- and macrovascular complications and their associated clinical characteristics at time of type 2 diabetes (T2D) diagnosis. We examined the prevalence of complications and associated clinical characteristics among 6958 newly diagnosed T2D patients enrolled in the prospective Danish Center for Strategic Research in T2D cohort during 2010–2016. We calculated age- and gender-adjusted prevalence ratios (aPRs) of complications using log-binomial and Poisson regression. In total, 35% (n=2456) T2D patients had diabetic complications around diagnosis; 12% (n=828) had microvascular complications, 17% (n=1186) macrovascular complications, and 6% (n=442) had both. HbA1c levels of ≥7% were associated with microvascular complications [HbA1c 7%–8%; aPR: 1.35, 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.12–1.62] but not macrovascular complications [aPR: 0.91, 95% CI: 0.76–1.08]. High C-peptide≥800pmol/L was associated with macrovascular [aPR 1.34, 95% CI: 1.00–1.80] but not microvascular [aPR 0.97, 95% CI: 0.71–1.33] complications. Macrovascular complications were associated with male sex, age>50years, obesity, hypertriglyceridemia, low HDL cholesterol, smoking, elevated CRP levels, and anti-hypertensive therapy. Microvascular complications were associated with high blood pressure, hypertriglyceridemia, and absence of lipid-lowering therapy. One-third of patients with T2D had diabetes complications around time of diagnosis. Our findings suggest different pathophysiological mechanisms behind micro- and macrovascular complications. •One-third (35%) of T2D patients had diabetes complications at time of diagnosis.•12% had microvascular, 17% had macrovascular, and 6% had both complications.•Poor glucose control was associated with micro- but not macrovascular complications.•High C-peptide was associated with macro- but not microvascular complications.•Our findings suggest different pathophysiology behind the two complication types.