Study on the Risk of Coronary Heart Disease with Type 2 Diabetes in Young and Middle-aged People: Sex Differences

With the increase of incidence rate of type 2 diabetes worldwide and the shortening of the onset time, coronary heart disease (CHD) poses a major threat to young and middle-aged patients with type 2 diabetes (T2D), and cardiovascular events are the main cause of death in this population. Although established risk factors such as age, hypertension, and dyslipidemia can lead to CHD in T2D patients, their effects may vary by gender. However, gender specific studies on CHD risk in middle-aged and young T2D populations, particularly large-scale systematic analyses, are still limited. This study aimed to assess sex-specific differences in the risk of CHD among young and middle-aged individuals T2D. A total of 1071 adults with both CHD and T2D were recruited from the National Population Health Data Center, and weighted univariate and multiple logistic regression analyses were applied to calculate odds ratios (ORs) with 95% confidence intervals (CIs). The results showed an overall CHD prevalence of 35.29% in the T2D population, with slight sex differences: 36.47% in males and 32.49% in females. Notably, CHD prevalence increased with body mass index (BMI), reaching 33.22% in the <25 kg/m2 group, 34.69% in the 25–<30 kg/m2 group, and 41.83% in the ≥30 kg/m2 group. Weighted logistic regression analyses identified age, hypertension, triglycerides (TG), high-density lipoprotein (HDL), and C-reactive protein (CRP) as significant correlates of CHD in males with T2D. In contrast, only age and hypertension showed significant associations with CHD in females. These findings confirm sex disparities in CHD risk factors among young and middle-aged T2D patients, emphasizing the need for sex-specific strategies in CHD prevention and management for this population.