Diabetes

If you have diabetes, heart attack and stroke are more likely to strike you, and at an earlier age, than someone without diabetes.

Cardiovascular disease, which includes coronary heart disease (CHD), cerebrovascular disease, and peripheral vascular disease, is the leading cause of mortality in people with diabetes. Most of these deaths are due to complications of cornary artery disease (CAD). Individuals with diabetes have at least a twofold to fourfold increased risk for having cardiovascular events compared with age-matched subjects without diabetes.

After myocardial infarction (MI), people with diabetes have a twofold to threefold greater morbidity and mortality.

Although diabetic patients have a higher prevalence of traditional CHD risk factors (i.e., hypertension, dyslipidemia, obesity) compared with people without diabetes, these risk factors account for less than half the excess mortality associated with diabetes. Thus, the diagnosis of diabetes is a major independent risk factor for the development of CHD and for adverse outcomes following a myocardial event.

Return to Prevention/Healthy Living