(HealthDay)—In patients with asymptomatic left ventricular systolic dysfunction, diabetes is associated with an increased risk of developing heart failure, according to a study published online April 6 in Diabetes Care.

Rasmus Rørth, M.D., from the University of Glasgow in the United Kingdom, and colleagues assessed the development of symptomatic heart failure, heart failure hospitalization, and cardiovascular death by diabetes status at baseline among patients participating in the prevention arm of the Studies of Left Ventricular Dysfunction.

The researchers found that 15 percent of the 4,223 participants had diabetes at baseline. Older age and higher average weight, systolic blood pressure, and heart rate were seen in patients with diabetes. Over a median 36 months of follow-up, development of heart failure was higher among patients with diabetes versus those without (33 versus 24 percent). Patients with diabetes had a higher risk of development of heart failure (hazard ratio, 1.53), heart failure hospitalization (hazard ratio, 2.04), and the composite outcome of development of heart failure or cardiovascular death (hazard ratio, 1.48), in unadjusted analyses.

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