Cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes in older adults: a combined protocol for an individual participant data analysis for risk prediction and a network meta-analysis of novel anti-diabetic drugs.

We will analyse individual participant data from multiple cohort studies of older adults who are often not well represented in large clinical trials.By using flexible survival parametric models, we will be able to capture the potentially complex shapes of the baseline hazard functions of cardiovascular disease (CVD) and mortality.Our network meta-analysis will include recently published randomised controlled trials on novel anti-diabetic drugs that have not been included in previous network meta-analysis and results will be stratified by age and baseline HbA1cAlthough we plan to use several international cohorts, the external validity of our findings and particularly of our prediction model will need to be assessed in independent studiesOur study will help guide CVD risk estimation and prevention among older adults with type 2 diabetes.