Prevalence of diabetic macrovascular complications and related factors from 2005 to 2014 in Taiwan: A nationwide survey.

BACKGROUND/PURPOSE: Diabetic macrovascular complications contribute to nonignorable causes of morbidity and mortality in patients with diabetes mellitus (DM). In this study, the trends of risk factors and macrovascular complications were examined in patients with DM in Taiwan. METHODS: Health care information and International Classification of Diseases, Ninth Revision diagnostic codes were retrieved from the Taiwan Bureau of National Health Insurance claims files between 2005 and 2014. Using these data, the number of cases and annual prevalence of diabetic macrovascular complications in individuals with DM were stratified by age and sex. RESULTS: The prevalence of DM with either stroke or cardiovascular disease (CVD) showed a decreasing trend in enrolled patients with DM (p for trend < 0.005), but that of DM with peripheral vascular diseases (PVDs) showed an increasing trend (p for trend < 0.001). Notably, the trend of changes in the prevalence of heart failure (HF) was similar to that of changes in the prevalence of stroke, although the decrease in prevalence was not statistically significant (p for trend = 0.053). CONCLUSION: From this nationwide study, we observed a decrease in the prevalence of diabetic macrovascular complications, such as stroke, CVD, and HF, but an increase in the prevalence of PVDs in the past decade in Taiwan.