People who have just been diagnosed with type 2 diabetes mellitus have three times higher risk of being hospitalized for heart failure compared with those who do not have this chronic metabolic condition. This is shown by a study published in the journal Primary Care Diabetes, led by the Cardiovascular Research Group (GRECAP) and the Diabetes Research Group (DAPCat) of the Institut d’Investigació en Atenció Primària Jordi Gol (IDIAPJGol). The study analyzed, over a 13-year period (from 2010 to 2023), data from more than two million adults recorded in the Information System for Research Development in Primary Care (SIDIAP), which collects information on 75 % of the population of Catalonia.

More hospitalizations

Among the population analysed, half a million people developed type 2 diabetes during this period, while the remaining one and a half million did not. Of those diagnosed with type 2 diabetes, 4.7 % were hospitalized for heart failure for the first time, compared with 1.7 % of those without diabetes.

The factors that most increased the risk of hospitalization were high blood pressure, atrial fibrillation, and ischemic heart disease—particularly among older men with obesity and chronic kidney disease.

Research needed to improve prevention

The article concludes that, despite therapeutic advances and new diabetes medications, heart failure remains one of the main cardiovascular complications among people with type 2 diabetes.

IDIAPJGol researcher Miguel Ángel Muñoz, first author of the study, highlights the need to continue studying the relationship between type 2 diabetes and heart failure, with the aim of reducing the number of hospitalizations.

Article reference

Muñoz MA, Cendrós V, Navas E, Verdú-Rotellar JM, Barrot J, Franch J. Incidence of first hospitalization for heart failure in type 2 diabetes mellitus: A population-based cohort study in primary care. Prim Care Diabetes. 2025 Oct;19(5):471-477. doi: 10.1016/j.pcd.2025.07.009. Epub 2025 Aug 5. PMID: 40764218.