Background Mortality rate of diabetic patients is about twice as much that of non-diabetic individuals of similar age; this makes diabetes a leading risk factor for mortality, especially of cardiovascular origin, which accounts for 2.9 million global events yearly. Such scenario is expected to further deteriorate, given that the prevalence of type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM), by far the most common form of diabetes comprising more than 90% of all diabetic individuals, is increasing worldwide. Predicting such devastating event is, therefore, urgently needed in order to target aggressive prevention strategies in high risk T2DM patients.