The concept of cardiovascular health (CVH) was introduced by the American Heart Association (AHA) in 2010 as part of the AHA impact goals for promoting CVH and reducing deaths from cardiovascular disease (CVD). A recent finding published in ‘European Journal of Preventive Cardiology’ signifies the importance of favorable CVH in preventing T2D among middle-aged individuals regardless of their genetic predisposition.

The researchers used data from the large prospective population-based Rotterdam Study (RS) of 5,993 individuals (mean age, 69 years; 58% women) free of type 2 diabetes at baseline to evaluate the lifetime risk for T2D across different CVH categories. They also investigated the role of T2D genetic variants on the lifetime risk of incident T2D across different CVH categories. They included six metrics in calculating the CVH score: body mass index (BMI), smoking behaviour, blood pressure, total cholesterol, physical activity, and diet, all measured at baseline.

The results revealed that among the participants, 869 individuals developed type 2 diabetes during a median of 13 years of follow-up. By age 55 years, type 2 diabetes lifetime risk was 22.6% for those with favorable CV health, 28.3% for those with intermediate CV health and 32.6% for those with poor CV health. When stratifying by genetic risk score tertiles, compared with individuals with poor and intermediate CV health, type 2 diabetes lifetime risk remained lowest among those with favorable CV health in the lowest (21.5%), middle (20.8%) and highest (23.5%) genetic risk score tertiles.