Association of diabetic retinopathy, ischemic heart disease, and albuminuria with diabetic treatment in type 2 diabetic patients. A population-based study.

The management of type 2 diabetes has been a controversial issue. The objective of the present study was to estimate patients' characteristics, particularly diabetes treatment, associated with retinopathy, coronary heart disease, and microalbuminuria in an unselected population of 532 type 2 diabetic individuals from three communities. Questionnaires, clinic record review, and physical examination were used for the assessment of the three conditions. Fasting C-peptide was measured in all insulin-treated participants to establish type 2 diabetes. Patients with and without each of the studied complications were matched for age at diagnosis of diabetes and duration of diabetes. Univariate matched and multivariate conditional logistic regression analyses were used to estimate the independent association between each of the various factors studied and the three complications. Insulin treatment was the only factor independently associated with all three complications (odds ratios 3.3, 3.4, and 5.3 for diabetic retinopathy, coronary heart disease, and albuminuria, respectively). Glycosylated hemoglobin, uric acid, systolic blood pressure levels, and body mass index were also independently associated with at least one of the complications but not with all of them. Although no cause-effect relationship can be established from this cross-sectional design, insulin therapy seems to be a marker of severer diabetes from the time of diagnosis.