Race may be associated with the risk of coronary heart disease (CHD) and acute myocardial infarction (AMI) in patients with diabetes. Swedish researchers evaluated patients included in the Swedish National Diabetes Registry (2002-2006) and followed them through the National Inpatient Registry and the National Death Registry until diagnosis of acute myocardial infarction or death from coronary heart disease, (other causes), or until December 31, 2011. All individuals (15.5% foreign-born) had access to low-cost health care. Of the 121,289 patients with type 2 diabetes, 12.861 (10.6%) had an event (mean follow-up period 6.1 years). Incidence rates varied strikingly across ethnic groups. The figures are particularly high in non-Western groups, especially in sub-Saharan Africa and Latin America. The adjusted risk ratios for acute myocardial infarction/coronary heart disease deaths by race compared with the Nordic countries were: high-income Europe, North America, 1.10; low-income Europe, 1.19; Latin America and the Caribbean, 1.30; Middle East and North Africa, 1.37; sub-Saharan Africa, 1.15; and South and East Asia, 1.10.