Abstract
Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is a leading cause of morbidity and mortality in type 2 diabetes (T2D) patients. Recent cardiovascular outcome trials demonstrated clear cardiovascular benefits of novel classes of glucose-lowering agents. We performed retrospective electronic health record review at two major healthcare systems in the USA to determine the relative frequencies of outpatient encounters (hence prescribing opportunities) that a patient with T2D and CVD had with a cardiologist vs. an endocrinologist over one-year period. Of 109 747 T2D patients, 42.6% had established CVD. The ratio of cardiology-to-endocrinology outpatient encounters was 2.0:1 for all T2D patients, and 4.1:1 for those with T2D and CVD. Because each outpatient encounter provides an opportunity to discuss glucose-lowering medications with cardiovascular benefits, the much greater frequency of cardiology encounters highlights the emerging potential for cardiovascular specialists to influence or even implement evidence-based glucose-lowering therapies, thereby improving cardiovascular outcomes in their T2D patients.
Original language | English (US) |
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Pages (from-to) | 56-59 |
Number of pages | 4 |
Journal | Cardiovascular Endocrinology and Metabolism |
Volume | 9 |
Issue number | 2 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - 2020 |
Externally published | Yes |
Keywords
- cardiologist
- cardiovascular disease
- endocrinologist
- type 2 diabetes
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Endocrinology, Diabetes and Metabolism
- Cardiology and Cardiovascular Medicine