Date: {{$ActivityAssignDate}}

Dear Dr. {{$doctorName}},


Subject : Glycemic Control and Disease Management Practices in Indian Type 2 Diabetic Patients with Atherosclerotic Cardiovascular Disease (ASCVD) Risk Factors and/or Established ASCVD (GLIDER Study)


Type 2 diabetes Mellitus (T2DM) and atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (ASCVD) are endemic in India and are frequently co-present in patients and adversely affect outcomes. Also, T2DM is a well-established risk factor for cardiovascular disease (CVD).


International Diabetes Federation (IDF 2021) has estimated that India currently has around 74 million people with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) and the numbers are poised to increase to 125 million in the next 20 years.


The excess mortality risk in T2DM is due to high prevalence of major cardiovascular risk factors such as hypertension (HTN), lipid abnormalities, smoking and obesity that are in addition to factors specific to T2DM like hyperglycemia, diabetic dyslipidemia, and oxidation-related and glycation-related vascular injury.


Cardiovascular diseases (coronary heart disease, stroke, peripheral arterial disease) are the major causes of morbidity and mortality in T2DM. It has been reported that 60–80% of patients with diabetes die of cardiovascular events.


T2DM is a well-established risk factor for cardiovascular disease (CVD). Diagnosis of T2DM doubles the cardiovascular risk in men and more than triples the risk in women. Moreover, diabetic vascular disease is responsible for 2 to 4-fold rise in the occurrence of coronary artery disease (CAD) and stroke, and 2 to 8-fold increase in the risk of heart failure.


In T2DM apart from LDL cholesterol, a low HDL-C or only elevated TGs, Atherogenic dyslipidemia (Low HDL-C and ApoA, elevated both fasting and post-prandial TGs, elevated small dense LDL particles, and elevated ApoB) is a self-determining predictor of cardiovascular risk. Moreover, these patients when optimally treated with lipid lowering therapy has shown to significantly reduce CVD events and cardiovascular risks.


Arterial hypertension is present in more than 60% of T2DM patients, and hypertension quadruples cardiovascular risk in diabetic patients. The United Kingdom Diabetes Prospective Study (UKPDS) showed that DM-related mortality decreased 15% with each 10 mmHg drop, down to a systolic BP (SBP) of 120 mmHg.


In a cohort of female T2DM it was observed that, compared to non-smokers the relative risk of for CHD was 1.21 for past smokers; 1.66 for current smokers of up to 14 cigarettes per day and 2.68 for current smokers of 15 cigarettes per day or more. A similar data from large prospective trial has revealed that stopping smoking decreases mortality risk in T2DM, but risks kept increasing some years after stopping and are highly dependent on the duration of smoking.


Obesity is major risk factor for T2DM, HTN, & metabolic diseases. Abdominal obesity is a known risk factor for CVD independent of BMI and is thought to affect disease risk through increased insulin resistance.

Currently, there is scarce evidence on presence of ASCVD risk factors and established ASCVD and status of glycemic control in Indian T2DM patients. Thus in lieu of the above, this retrospective, cross-sectional multicenter study is planned to assess the status of glycemic control in T2DM patients in India in presence of ASCVD risk factors and/or established ASCVD.


We invite you to participate in this study. On acceptance, you will need to capture the relevant data as mentioned in the standard Data Collection Form (DCF) provided, from the patient’s medical records (case papers and investigational reports – hereafter referred as source documents).


We would recommend you to capture data fulfilling the criteria as outlined in the protocol and whose relevant laboratory investigations are available for the preceding 3 months.


We wish to inform you that the DCF will capture all data in de-identified form and any identifiable parameters which may potentially disclose the identity of the patient such as name or address will strictly not be captured so as to ensure we maintain patient confidentiality. We would encourage you to carefully fill all available information to the fullest as recommended in the DCF.


In alignment with good clinical research practices, an independent Contract Research Organization (CRO) will monitor this study and do the source data verification of the data captured in the DCF with copies of the patients’ source medical records (case papers and investigational reports) to ensure that the data entered in the DCFs are accurate and in alignment with the patients’ medical records. The study is approved by independent ethics committee.


If you agree to participate in the said study, we would request you to sign and return the enclosed reply along with your visiting card for accuracy of records.




Yours truly,



Sun Pharma Laboratories Limited

Sun House, 201/B1, Western Express Highway,

Goregaon (East), Mumbai,

Maharashtra (India) – 400 063