RESULTS: After a median (interquartile range) follow-up period of 5.0 years (1.3 years), 6% of the cohort experienced a CVD event (12.2 per 1,000 person-years; 95% CI 9.3-15.9). CVD risk was inversely related to the number of positive health behaviors changed in the year after diabetes diagnosis. The relative risk for primary CVD event in individuals who did not change any health behavior compared with those who adopted three/four healthy behaviors was 4.17 (95% CI 1.02-17.09), adjusting for age, sex, study group, social class, occupation, and prescription of cardioprotective medication (P for trend = 0.005).