Use of Guideline-Recommended Risk Reduction Strategies Among Patients With Diabetes and Atherosclerotic Cardiovascular Disease

Patients with atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (ASCVD) and concomitant diabetes are at particularly high risk for new and recurrent ischemic events and heart failure and therefore derive greater absolute benefit from secondary prevention therapies than patients without concomitant diabetes. Prior analyses reported suboptimal use of evidence-based therapies in this vulnerable group but did not include data on newer lipid and glucose-lowering therapies. Given the emergence of non-statin LDL lowering agents and glucose-lowering medications with cardiovascular benefits, the number of evidence-based therapies for secondary prevention has expanded. Thus, we examined contemporary use of medications to reduce cardiovascular risk in a large cohort of US patients with diabetes and ASCVD.