Diabetes Genetic Predisposition Score and Cardiovascular Complications Among Patients With Type 2 Diabetes

OBJECTIVE To examine the association between genetic predisposition to type 2 diabetes (T2D) and risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD) among patients with T2D. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS The current study included 1,012 men and 1,310 women with T2D from the Health Professionals Follow-up Study and Nurses’ Health Study, including 677 patients with CVD and 1,645 non-CVD control subjects. A genetic predisposition score (GPS) was calculated on the basis of 36 established independent diabetes-predisposing variants. RESULTS Each additional diabetes-risk allele in the GPS was associated with a 3% increased risk of CVD (odds ratio [OR] 1.03 [95% CI 1.00–1.06]). The OR was 1.47 (1.11–1.95) for CVD risk by comparing extreme quartiles of the GPS (P for trend = 0.01). We also found that the GPS was positively associated with hemoglobin A1c levels (P = 0.009). CONCLUSIONS Genetic predisposition to T2D is associated with an increased risk of cardiovascular complications in patients with T2D.