New risk calculator can help prevent heart attacks and strokes in people with type 2 diabetes

A new risk calculator will help to identify people with type 2 diabetes who are at high risk of developing heart and circulatory diseases with greater accuracy than ever before.

By spotting high-risk individuals years in advance, doctors will be able to offer vital preventative treatment that can help save lives by warding off future heart attacks and strokes. 

The risk calculator is included in the new European Society of Cardiology (ESC) Guidelines advising doctors on the management of cardiovascular disease in people with type 2 diabetes, which were announced at the ESC’s annual Congress in August.
 
There are around 4.5 million people in the UK with type 2 diabetes, and one third of adults with diabetes die from a heart or circulatory disease.

The SCORE2-Diabetes risk calculator, published in the European Heart Journal, will allow doctors to estimate the risk of developing a heart or circulatory disease in the next 10 years, with much improved accuracy. 

Professor Sir Nilesh Samani, our Medical Director, said: “People with diabetes are overall nearly twice as likely to die of heart disease or stroke as those who do not have the condition.

"This increased risk can be substantially reduced by interventions such as blood pressure control and statins, but this requires more accurate identification of those at increased risk.  
 
“SCORE2-Diabetes is a valuable advance that will allow doctors to tailor pre-emptive treatments for individuals with type 2 diabetes based on their personal risk of heart and circulatory diseases.

"Such an approach is vital as clinicians in the UK and across Europe find new ways to reduce the high levels of ill health associated with diabetes.” 

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Source: British Heart Foundation, 26 November 2023