Reliable prediction of cardiovascular risk in people with type 2 diabetes is now a reality, thanks to the study “SCORE2-Diabetes: 10-year cardiovascular risk estimation in type 2 diabetes in Europe,” which analyzed nearly 239,000 people and more than 43,000 cardiovascular events from four regions in Europe. The study was promoted by the SCORE2 working group, in which researchers from the DAP-cat Research Group of the Jordi Gol Primary Care Research Institute (IDIAPJGol) and the Biomedical Research Network Center focused on Diabetes and Associated Metabolic Diseases (CIBERDEM) participate.

Type 2 diabetes affects more than 5 million people in Spain. Due to having the disease, they have a higher risk of cardiovascular problems than the general population, and these are more severe and progress faster. This has a very high impact in terms of loss of quality and years of life.

The results of this research will allow adopting preventive measures, early diagnosing complications, and initiating treatments that reduce the risk of cardiovascular problems among people with type 2 diabetes. The European Society of Cardiology, following the SCORE project, has developed an application (ESC CVD Risk Calculation) designed for healthcare professionals that provides calculators to assess individual cardiovascular risk, now also specifically for people with type 2 diabetes.

The coordinator of DAP-cat, Josep Franch Nadal, explains that the study has detected significant differences between regions: “We, as a Mediterranean population, belong to the very low cardiovascular risk stratum.” To carry out the study, the SIDIAP was used, the research database of IDIAPJGol that collects clinical practice information in Primary Care in Catalonia: “The data has helped us calibrate and verify the results in our population and in other countries with a risk level similar to ours,” explains this researcher from the USR Barcelona of IDIAPJGol and Primary Care physician in Barcelona of the Catalan Health Institute.