Glycemic control and heart failure among adult patients with diabetes

Glycemic control is associated with microvascular events, but its effect on the risk of heart failure is not well understood. We examined the association between hemoglobin (Hb) A(Ic) and the risk of heart failure hospitalization and/or death in a population-based sample of adult patients with diabetes and assessed whether this association differed by patient sex, heart failure pathogenesis, and hypertension status. A cohort design was used with baseline between January 1, 1995, and June 30, 1996, and follow-up through December 31, 1997 (median 2.2 years). Participants were 25 958 men and 22 900 women with (predominantly type 2) diabetes, >/=19 years old, with no known history of heart failure. There were a total of 935 events (516 among men; 419 among women). After adjustment for age, sex, race/ethnicity, education level, cigarette smoking, alcohol consumption, hypertension, obesity, use of beta-blockers and ACE inhibitors, type and duration of diabetes, and incidence of interim myocardial infarction, each 1% increase in Hb A(Ic) was associated with an 8% increased risk of heart failure (95% CI 5% to 12%). An Hb A(Ic) >/=10, relative to Hb A(Ic)