RT Journal
A1 Paynter NP, Mazer NA, Cook NR
T1 CArdiovascular risk evaluation tools specific to population with diabetes—reply
JF Archives of Internal Medicine
JO Archives of Internal Medicine
YR 2012
FD March 26
VO 172
IS 6
SP 523
OP 524
DO 10.1001/archinternmed.2012.49
UL http://dx.doi.org/10.1001/archinternmed.2012.49
AB 
We appreciate the thoughtful comments of Drs Echouffo-Tcheugui and colleagues on our article.1 We agree that diabetes status should not be treated as a cardiovascular disease (CVD) equivalent and that individualized risk estimates are preferred. While we also agree that hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c) may be a useful marker for both diabetic and nondiabetic patients, it is not yet universally available in nondiabetic patients and thus may not be practical as a risk marker in this group. We would also like to correct the misunderstanding that our results were due to a structural disadvantage between our CVD equivalent model and the HbA1c model. The CVD equivalent model was based on existing guidelines and refit to our data, making the footing as equal as possible, while retaining the ability to have a guideline-based comparison group.