title: Assessing Cardiovascular Risk and Testing in Type 2 Diabetes.
abstract: Type 2 diabetes confers approximately twofold-increased risk for cardiovascular disease. Early risk stratification of these patients may help reduce cardiovascular events. This review discusses the state of the art of risk factors, biomarkers, and subclinical disease parameters potentially useful in cardiovascular risk assessment in type 2 diabetes.
  
  
  
  Scientific progress in the past decade has identified a spectrum of risk in diabetic individuals rather than categorizing diabetes as a coronary heart disease equivalent as previously done. Recent data on emerging biomarkers and diagnostic imaging, along with traditional risk factors, provide evidence to help inform individualized cardiovascular risk assessment. Comprehensive assessment of traditional risk factors, biomarkers, complications of diabetes, and subclinical atherosclerosis may help classify diabetic individuals as low, intermediate, or high risk for determining the intensity of lifestyle modification and pharmacotherapy. Further research may lead to a comprehensive pathway for cardiovascular disease risk assessment in diabetic patients.
authors.affiliation: Section of Cardiovascular Research, Department of Medicine, Baylor College of Medicine, 6565 Fannin St., M.S. A-601, Suite 656, Houston, TX, 77030, USA.|Center for Cardiovascular Disease Prevention, Methodist DeBakey Heart and Vascular Center, Houston, TX, USA.
authors.forename: Anum
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Saeed
authors.affiliation: Section of Cardiovascular Research, Department of Medicine, Baylor College of Medicine, 6565 Fannin St., M.S. A-601, Suite 656, Houston, TX, 77030, USA. cmb@bcm.edu.|Center for Cardiovascular Disease Prevention, Methodist DeBakey Heart and Vascular Center, Houston, TX, USA. cmb@bcm.edu.|Section of Cardiology, Department of Medicine, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX, 77030, USA. cmb@bcm.edu.
authors.forename: Christie M
authors.initials: CM
authors.lastname: Ballantyne
mesh_terms: D050197:Atherosclerosis / Q000150:complications; D015415:Biomarkers / Q000097:blood; D002318:Cardiovascular Diseases / Q000097:blood / Q000209:etiology*; D003327:Coronary Disease / Q000209:etiology; D003924:Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2 / Q000097:blood / Q000150:complications*; D003925:Diabetic Angiopathies / Q000097:blood / Q000209:etiology*; D006801:Humans; D018570:Risk Assessment; D012307:Risk Factors
chemical_list: D015415:Biomarkers
keywords: Cardiovascular disease; Cardiovascular risk; Cardiovascular testing; Diabetes mellitus