Diabetes
and Heart Disease Rates Soar
As the number of Americans with type 2 diabetes has soared
over the past 50 years, so, too, has heart disease linked to the blood sugar
illness, researchers say in the medical journal Circulation.
"The proportion of heart disease due to diabetes has increased
about 60 percent over time," says lead author Dr. Caroline S. Fox, a medical
officer at the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute's
(NHLBI) Framingham Heart Study.
"Compared with other risk factors for heart disease, diabetes
is becoming more of an issue,” she says.
The findings underscore the need to prevent diabetes and
to aggressively treat and control risk factors for heart disease in people
with diabetes.
In obesity-linked type 2 diabetes, the body either does
not produce enough insulin - the hormone that converts blood sugar to energy
for cells - or the cells ignore the insulin. Left untreated, the disease can
produce complications such as heart disease, blindness, nerve, and kidney damage.
Almost two-thirds (65 percent) of persons with diabetes
will die from heart disease or stroke, according to the American
Heart Association.
In this study, Dr. Fox's team collected data on 9,540 people
ages 45 to 64 who participated in the Framingham Heart
Study, a large population-based study.
The Framingham Study began in 1948 in Framingham, Massachusetts,
and is continuing today with the third generation of study participants. The
study is investigating the causes of cardiovascular disease.
The researchers used the data to compare risk factors for
heart disease and cardiovascular events such as heart attacks from two different
time periods. The first group was examined between 1952 and 1974, and the second
group was examined between 1975 and 1998, according to the report.
They found that risk for heart disease attributable to type
2 diabetes was 5.2 percent between 1952 and 1974. However, that number jumped
to 7.8 percent between 1975 and 1998. The majority of the increased risk occurred
among diabetic men.
In addition, Dr. Fox's group also found that the prevalence
of diabetes among those with heart disease almost doubled between the time
periods. The prevalence of obesity also increased over time.
The findings echo those from a study published by the same
group last June in Circulation. In that study,
Dr. Fox's team looked over data on more than 3,400 Americans aged 40 to 55
who were also participating in the Framingham study.
Following the participants from the 1970s through to the
1990s, Dr. Fox and her colleagues found that rates of diabetes have doubled
over that period of time.
"In terms of public health, diabetes needs to be more effectively
managed with respect to cardiovascular disease management," Dr. Fox concludes. "Ultimately,
diabetes needs to be prevented.”
That includes curbing the obesity epidemic, experts say.
"This is a very important study that highlights the increased
risk for cardiovascular disease that patients with diabetes face," adds Dr.
Gregg Fonarow, a professor of clinical medicine at the University of California,
Los Angeles.
"There is an urgent need to aggressively treat all patients
with diabetes with cardiovascular protective medications, risk factor control,
and lifestyle change as recommended in national guidelines," says Dr. Fonarow.
Always consult your physician for more information.
(Our
Organization is not responsible for the content of Internet sites.)
American
Association of Clinical Endocrinologists
American
Diabetes Association
American
Dietetic Association
American
Heart Association
CDC
- Diabetes Public Health Resource
Centers
for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)
Circulation – Increasing
Cardiovascular Disease Burden Due to Diabetes Mellitus
Everyday
Choices - ADA, AHA, and ACS
Framingham
Heart Study
National
Diabetes Education Program
National
Diabetes Information Clearinghouse
National
Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK)
National
Institutes of Health (NIH)
Prevengamos
la diabetes tipo 2. Paso a Paso
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