Major cardiovascular (CVD) mortality in adults with diabetes has declined, especially in men, a recent study found. Furthermore, large reductions were observed for ischemic heart disease (IHD) and stroke mortality, although heart failure and arrhythmia deaths did not change. Researchers used the National Health Interview Survey (1985–2014) with mortality follow-up data through the end of 2015 to estimate nationally representative trends and disparities in major CVD, IHD, stroke, heart failure, and arrhythmia mortality among adults aged ≥20 years by diabetes status. They found:

• Over a mean follow-up period of 11.8 years from 1988 to 2015 of 677,051 adults, there were significant decreases in major CVD death in adults with and without diabetes except adults aged 20–54 years.
• Among adults with diabetes, 10-year relative changes in mortality were significant for major CVD (−32.7%), IHD (−40.3%), and stroke (−29.2%), but not heart failure (−0.5%) and arrhythmia (−12.0%); the absolute decrease of major CVD among adults with diabetes was higher than among adults without diabetes.
• Men with diabetes had larger decreases in CVD death than women with diabetes.