Fig. 1

Defining and addressing UDCI. a Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is prevalent in patients with type 2 diabetes (T2D). In some cases, symptoms may be atypical (including patients with diastolic dysfunction) and the disease may therefore not be readily recognised, even though a high risk for CV events may nevertheless still be present. We propose the terminology “unrecognised diabetic cardiac impairment (UDCI)” for CVD with atypical symptoms in patients with T2D. b The introduction of a standardised terminology is the first of several steps that we believe will improve recognition of UDCI. New clinical studies, a re-examination of guidelines and the establishment of cost-effective, simple screening strategies will be important future steps