Hypoglycemia, Diabetes, and
Cardiovascular Events
C
YRUS
V. D
ESOUZA
,
MD
1
G
EREMIA
B. B
OLLI
,
MD
2
V
IVIAN
F
ONSECA
,
MD
3
D
iabetes is at epidemic proportions
in the U.S. Patients with diabetes
are at increased risk for micro- and
macrovascularcomplications.Thebenefit
of glycemic control in decreasing the risk
for microvascular disease is well estab-
lished.
However, the role of glycemic
control in decreasing macrovascular
complications has been controversial.
Several large clinical trials looking at this
issuehaveeithershownnobenefitoreven
potential harm. The possibility of hypo-
glycemiaasariskfactorforcardiovascular
events is a topic of much debate. In this
review article, we discuss the evidence for
and against this hypothesis and the pos-
sible mechanisms that might be involved.
Patients with diabetes have an in-
creased risk of cardiovascular disease.
The link between glycemic control and
microvascular complications has been
firmly established (1,2). However, the as-
sociation between glycemic control and
macrovascular disease is mainly obtained
from epidemiological studies, and inten-
sive glucose control has often failed to re-
duce macrovascular events.
Intensive
glucose control invariably increases the risk
of hypoglycemia and sometimes the sever-
ity of hypoglycemia (2) Several epidemio-
logical studies and smaller prospective
studies have linked hypoglycemia to in-
creased cardiovascular risk (3–5). Recent
large randomized trials looking at inten-
sive glycemic control have either shown
no benefit (Action in Diabetes and Vascu-
lar Disease: Preterax and Diamicron Mod-
ified Release Controlled Evaluation
[ADVANCE] and Veterans Affairs Diabe-
tes Trial [VADT]) or increased all cause
mortality (Action to Control Cardiovas-
cular Risk in Diabetes [ACCORD]) (6)