Strategies for glycemic control in nonobese and obese type 2 diabetic patients with coronary artery disease

This study aimed to assess strategies of insulin-providing (IP) or insulin-sensitizing (IS) therapy for glycemic control in nonobese diabetic patients with coronary artery disease (CAD) with possibly higher cardiovascular risk and lower insulin secretion than obese diabetic patients with CAD. We used data from the Bypass Angioplasty Revascularization Investigation 2 Diabetes (BARI 2D) trial to calculate hazard ratio (HR) with 95% confidence interval (95%CI) for outcome events in patients with type 2 diabetes and CAD using Cox proportional hazard models. The comparison between the IP and IS groups was performed using the randomized design of the BARI 2D trial separately for nonobese (n = 1021) and obese (n = 1319) patients. The primary outcome was a composite endpoint including all-cause death, myocardial infarction, and stroke. During the follow-up, 231 nonobese and 295 obese patients had one confirmed primary outcome event. In nonobese patients, the risk of primary outcome events was significantly higher in the IP group than the IS group (HR: 1.30, 95%CI: 1.00–1.68, P = 0.04), whereas that in obese patients did not differ significantly between the two groups. Moreover, in nonobese patients, the risk of primary outcome events in those without abdominal obesity was significantly higher in the IP group than that in the IS group (HR: 1.51, 95%CI: 1.05–2.19, P = 0.02). There were no significant interactions between the strategy for glycemic control and various subgroups of nonobese patients. In nonobese patients with type 2 diabetes and CAD, the IS treatment strategy may be more beneficial than the IP treatment strategy. •The optimal strategy for glycaemic control in nonobese diabetic patients remains unknown.•Nonobese patients with type 2 diabetes and CAD were at higher risk of cardiovascular events compared with obese patients.•In nonobese diabetic patients with CAD, cardiovascular risk was significantly higher in the IP group than in the IS group.