Ten-year modelled CVD risk was calculated from the model of the UK Prospective Diabetes Study (UKPDS); version 3 beta),27 at baseline and 5-years post-diagnosis. This is a diabetes-specific risk-assessment tool that estimates the absolute risk of fatal or non-fatal CVD within a defined time frame up to 20 years. Participants with complete data on the baseline UKPDS score variables, which are outlined in Box 1, were included in the analyses. The population was divided into quartiles of baseline-modelled CVD risk. Sociodemographic (age, sex, ethnicity, and education), health behaviour (smoking status), health utility (EQ-5D),28 and clinical characteristics were summarised by risk quartile and in the cohort as a whole.
Box 1. The UKPDS cardiovascular disease risk model
Background
A diabetes-specific risk-assessment tool that estimates the absolute risk of fatal or non-fatal CVD within a defined time frame up to 20 years. Participants with complete data on the UKPDS score variables at baseline were assessed.
Input variables
Age, sex, ethnicity, smoking status, glycated haemoglobin (HbA1c), systolic blood pressure, total:HDL (high density lipoprotein) cholesterol ratio, atrial fibrillation (AF), previous myocardial infarction or stroke, microalbuminuria (albumin:creatinine ratio ≥2.5 mg/mmol in males, or ≥3.5 mg/mmol in females), macroalbuminuria (albumin:creatinine ratio ≥30 mg/mmol), duration of diagnosed diabetes, and body mass index.
Notes on use
There were no data available on AF in ADDITION-Europe participants, so all individuals were coded as zero (no AF). There was a high proportion of missing data for smoking at 5-year follow-up in the Netherlands (29%). Baseline smoking status was used in the calculation of 5-year modelled CVD risk when follow-up values were missing.
Within each modelled CVD risk quartile, the mean absolute change in each CVD risk factor was calculated. To adjust for the differing demographic characteristics of each quartile, centre-specific linear regression models were used to estimate the change in each CVD risk factor within baseline CVD risk quartile, adjusted for age at diagnosis, sex, ethnicity, age of leaving full-time education, randomisation group, and clustering (robust standard errors). Adjusted means for each centre were combined via fixed-effects meta-analysis. The predicted probability of being prescribed any blood pressure-lowering, lipid-lowering, or glucose-lowering medication between diagnosis and 5 years, adjusting for demographic variables (within quartiles of baseline CVD risk), was calculated using a logistic model analogous to the primary analysis model.
Both the overall effect of education and potential interactions between low education and baseline cardiovascular risk were explored using centre-specific regression models as described above. The effect of employment status on change in each CVD risk factor was also examined.
The possibility that observed associations were dependent on the number of quartiles was explored by producing scatter plots of change in each risk factor by baseline modelled CVD risk. The study also explored whether the relationship between baseline risk quartile and risk factor change differed by trial group. Results were similar and trial groups were combined into a single cohort with adjustment for trial group. A multilevel logistic model (practices within centres) was used to explore sociodemographic information that predicted loss to follow-up. Regression to the mean within quartiles was explored by plotting baseline values against change scores.29 Data were analysed using Stata (version 12.1).