Table 2 Baseline characteristics of participants with type 2 diabetes in FDS1 and FDS2 by sex

Number (%)

666 (23.7)

630 (22.5)

727 (25.9)

782 (27.9)

Age at entry (years)

64.2 ± 11.8

63.9 ± 10.7

65.3 ± 12.2

65.5 ± 11.2^†

Age at diagnosis (years)

58.0 ± 11.9

57.7 ± 11.5

55.7 ± 13.0^**,†

55.5 ± 11.7^***,††

Duration of diabetes (years)

4.0 [1.0–9.0]

4.0 [1.0–9.3]

8.0 [3.0–15.5]^***

9.0 [2.1–15.4] ^{***,†††}

Ethnic background (%)

^†††

^†††

 Anglo-Celt

61.1

61.7

53.5

51.7

 Southern European

18.6

16.8

11.6

14.1

 Other European

7.7

9.4

6.7

7.9

 Asian

3.5

3.3

3.9

4.7

I ndigenous Australian

1.8

1.1

9.6

4.7

 Mixed/other

7.4

7.6

14.7

16.9

 Not fluent in English (%)

16.8

13.7

10.9^**

10.7^**

 Education beyond primary level (%)

70.2

78.0

86.4^†††

87.1^†††

 Currently married/de facto (%)

57.8

73.9^***

52.5^†††

72.1^{***,‡‡‡}

 Alcohol (standard drinks/day)

0 [0–0.1]

0.3 [0–1.5]^***

0 [0–0.3]^***

0.3 [0–1.5]^{***,†††}

Smoking status (%)

^***

^†††

^{***,†††,‡‡‡}

 Never

64.2

24.2

60.0

32.0

 Ex-

23.9

57.3

30.3

56.4

 Current

11.9

18.5

9.7

11.6

Diabetes treatment (%)

^***

^{***,†††,‡‡}

 Diet

31.5

32.4

28.8

20.7

 Oral agents or non-insulin injectables

56.0

55.4

50.1

56.4

 Insulin ± oral agents or non-insulin injectables

12.5

12.1

21.1

22.9

Fasting serum glucose (mmol/L)

8.0 [6.4–10.4]

7.9 [6.5–10.2]

7.1 [6.1–8.8]^***

7.2 [6.2–9.0] ^{***,†††}

HbA_1c (%)

7.2 [6.2–8.6]

7.2 [6.2–8.5]

6.8 [6.2–7.7]^***

6.9 [6.2–7.8] ^***,†

HbA_1c (mmol/mol)

55 [44–71]

55 [44–69]

51 [44–61]

52 [44–62]

BMI (kg/m²)

30.3 ± 6.1

28.8 ± 4.6^***

31.7 ± 6.7^{***,†††}

30.9 ± 5.6^†††

Systolic blood pressure (mm Hg)

151 ± 24

151 ± 23

143 ± 24^{***,†††}

148 ± 21^‡‡‡

Diastolic blood pressure (mm Hg)

79 ± 11

82 ± 11^***

77 ± 13^†††

83 ± 12^{***,‡‡‡}

Antihypertensive medication (%)

56.0

45.6^**

71.9^***

74.4^{***,†††}

Heart rate (bpm)

72 ± 12

68 ± 13^***

71 ± 12^†††

68 ± 12^{***,‡‡‡}

Serum total cholesterol (mmol/L)

5.7 ± 1.1

5.2 ± 1.0^***

4.6 ± 1.1^{***,†††}

4.1 ± 1.0^{***,†††,‡‡‡}

Serum HDL-cholesterol (mmol/L)

1.14 ± 0.34

0.97 ± 0.30^***

1.34 ± 0.35^{***,†††}

1.14 ± 0.30^{†††,‡‡‡}

Total cholesterol:HDL-cholesterol ratio

5.1 (3.6–7.1)

5.5 (4.0–7.6)^***

3.4 (2.5–4.7)^{***,†††}

3.6 (2.7–4.9)^{***,†††,‡‡}

Serum triglycerides (mmol/L)

2.2 (1.3–3.7)

2.2 (1.2–4.0)

1.5 (0.9–2.5)^{***,†††}

1.5 (0.9–2.6)^{***,†††}

Lipid-modifying medication (%)

11.1

9.9

66.0^{***,†††}

70.2^{***,†††}

Aspirin use (%)

18.9

25.2^*

34.4^***,††

39.8^{***,†††}

Urinary albumin:creatinine (mg/mmol)

5.4 (1.7–17.0)

5.0 (1.3–18.6)

3.2 (0.9–11.6)^{***,†††}

3.3 (0.8–13.7)^{***,†††}

Estimated glomerular filtration rate (%)

^†

 ≥ 90 mL/min/1.73m²

32.3

32.1

40.2

37.8

 60–89 mL/min/1.73m²

48.1

51.6

43.8

45.3

 45–59 mL/min/1.73m²

12.5

11.3

8.9

8.7

 30–44 mL/min/1.73m²

5.2

3.5

5.0

4.9

 < 30 mL/min/1.73m²

2.0

1.4

2.2

3.3

Atrial fibrillation (%)

3.2

6.6^*

3.5

5.6

Ischaemic heart disease (%)

26.1

33.2^*

24.8^††

32.6^*,‡‡

Cerebrovascular disease (%)

8.9

11.1

9.9

12.4

Peripheral arterial disease (%)

28.9

29.8

26.8^†††

18.7^***,‡‡

Peripheral sensory neuropathy (%)

27.0

34.7^*

56.0^{***,†††}

60.2^{***,†††}

Charlson Comorbidity Index^a (%)

^*

 0

74.0

68.9

78.3

72.3

 1–2

20.4

23.8

14.3

19.2

 ≥ 3

5.6

7.3

7.4

8.6