Background: To compare trends in incidence, clinical characteristics and outcomes of heart failure (HF) hospitalizations among patients with or without type 2 diabetes (T2DM) in Spain (2001-2015).
Methods: We used national hospital discharge data to select hospital admissions for HF as primary diagnosis. Incidence, comorbidities, diagnostic and therapeutic procedures, and in hospital mortality (IHM) were analyzed.
Results: We identified a total of 1,501,811 admissions for HF (36.87% with T2DM). Incidences were higher among those with T2DM than those without diabetes. The adjusted incidence of HF among T2DM patients was 4.93 higher than for non-diabetic subjects (IRR 4.93;95%CI 4.91-4.95). Jointpoint analysis showed that sex-age-adjusted admissions in T2DM patients with HF increased by 7.12% per year from 2001 to 2007 and stabilized afterwards. For non-diabetic patients a constant increase overtime of around 1% was found. Patients with T2DM were significantly younger than patients without diabetes (77.22 vs. 79.36 years) and had more coexisting medical conditions according to the Charlson Comorbidity Index (mean CCI 1.99 ± 0.88 vs. 1.90 ± 0.86). For the total time period, crude IHM was lower for T2DM patients than for non-diabetic people (8.35% vs, 10.57%; p < 0.05) and the association remained significant after multivariable adjustment ((OR, 0.84; 95%CI 0.83-0.86).). Female sex, older age and multiple comorbidities were significant risk factors for IHM.
Conclusions: T2DM increases the risk of admission for HF by five-fold. Our study demonstrates an increase in hospitalization for HF in diabetic patients from 2001 to 2007 and stabilization afterwards. T2DM was associated with a lower IHM after hospitalization for HF.
Keywords: Heart failure; Hospitalization; In-hospital mortality; Incidence; Length of stay; Type 2 diabetes mellitus.
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