Research

Mixed

In adults with type 2 diabetes, unintentional or pharmacologically induced weight gain exceeding 5% over three years is associated with a reduced risk of incident cardiovascular disease and coronary heart disease, particularly in individuals over 60 years old.

For older adults with type 2 diabetes, aggressive weight loss strategies may not be the primary goal for cardiovascular protection. Instead, focusing on stable weight or allowing for modest, non-adipose weight gain (potentially from muscle or metabolic reserve) may be associated with better heart outcomes than intentional weight loss, particularly if the patient is on sulfonylureas. Consult a doctor before changing weight management goals.

ModerateQualifiesMEDIUM confidence
Over 5% weight gain was associated with reduced risks of CVD and CHD development by the HRs of 0.70 [95% CI 0.48–1.01; P-value: 0.058] and 0.61 [0.40–0.93], respectively, in multivariable analysis.
Seyyed Saeed Moazzeni et al. · Cardiovascular Diabetology · 2021

Why this rating

Prospective cohort study with long follow-up (14.4 years) and multivariable adjustment, but observational design prevents causal inference.

Source

Weight change and risk of cardiovascular disease among adults with type 2 diabetes: more than 14 years of follow-up in the Tehran Lipid and Glucose Study

Seyyed Saeed Moazzeni et al. · Cardiovascular Diabetology · 2021

DOI 10.1186/s12933-021-01326-2

cohort · n=763Cited 26×
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DOI resolved against Crossref · corpus check 2026-06-10

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