Table 1

Characteristics of study participants

Characteristic†AgeP values
<60 years≥60 years
n=1328n=2164
 Age to 2015 (years)50.1 (8.4)70.7 (7.0)<0.001
 Male650 (49.5)1208 (56.5)<0.001
 Age when diabetes first diagnosed (years)40.6 (9.4)54.9 (10.6)<0.001
 Diabetes duration (years)9.6 (7.5)15.9 (9.6)<0.001
 HbA1c (%)8.6 (2.1)8.0 (1.6)<0.001
Cardiovascular risk factors
 Systolic blood pressure (mm Hg)130.5 (18.1)134.1 (18.6)<0.001
 Diastolic blood pressure (mm Hg)77.7 (10.5)72.6 (10.2)<0.001
 Current smoker235 (20.2)161 (8.9)
 Past smoker350 (30.1)713 (39.4)
 Never smoker577 (49.7)936 (51.7)
 Total cholesterol (mmol/L)4.6 (1.3)4.0 (1.1)<0.001
 LDL-cholesterol (mmol/L)2.4 (1.6)2.0 (0.9)<0.001
 HDL-cholesterol (mmol/L)1.1 (0.4)1.1 (0.4)0.010
 Triglyceride (mmol/L)2.5 (2.4)2.1 (1.7)<0.001
 Serum creatinine (μmol/L)89.5 (91.7)109.5 (91.3)<0.001
 eGFR mL/min/1.73 m2 89.3 (35.9)65.9 (27.1)<0.001
 Body mass index (kg/m2)34.5 (8.4)32.4 (6.7)<0.001
Treatments
 Diet alone65 (4.9)77 (3.6)0.052
 Oral glucose lowering agents1050 (79.1)1634 (75.5)0.013
 Non-insulin injectable glucose lowering agents94 (7.1)98 (4.5)0.003
 Insulin769 (57.9)1348 (62.3)0.010
Cardiovascular disease
 Microvascular complications414 (35.3)950 (49.3)<0.001
 Macrovascular complications247 (21.6)847 (43.4)<0.001

  • Microvascular complications defined as retinopathy, nephropathy or peripheral neuropathy.

  • Macrovascular complications defined as either cardiovascular, cerebrovascular or peripheral vascular disease.

  • *Categorical variables were presented as n (%) and continuous variables as mean (SD) or median (IQR), as appropriate.

  • †Categorical variables were assessed with the χ2 test. Continuous variables were tested for normality, analyses were performed using analysis of variance for normally distributed data and Mann-Whitney U tests for non-normally distributed data.

  • eGFR, estimated glomerular filtration rate; HbA1c, glycated haemoglobin A1c; HDL, high-density lipoprotein; LDL, low-density lipoprotein.