According to the reports of the scientists, due to the fact that the number of people having type 2 diabetes has rocketed over the past fifty years, so has heart disease connected with the blood sugar illness.
"The proportion of heart disease caused by diabetes has risen nearly sixty per cent over time," explained the lead author Dr Caroline S. Fox, a medical officer at the US National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute’s Framingham Heart Study. "In comparison to other risk factors for heart disease, diabetes is becoming more of an issue," she added.
"I’m not astonished, but I am terrified," said Dr Larry Deeb, president for medicine and science at the American Diabetes Association. "If you suffer from diabetes and you get a heart attack, you don’t do as well and the death rates become worse," he added.
The only method - prevention
According to Deeb, the only way to improve the situation is to prevent diabetes. In one of the most important prevention trials, "we proved that with a half-hour of physical activity per day and the loss of 10 to 15 pounds (4.5 to 6.8 kilograms), you decrease the new diabetes cases by more than 58 per cent," he said.
These findings were reported in the March 27 issue of Circulation by the team led by Fox.
In obesity-related type 2 diabetes, the body either does not produce sufficient amount of insulin - the hormone converting blood sugar to energy for cells - or the cells ignore the insulin. Type 2 diabetes, if left untreated, may lead to severe complications including: heart disease, blindness, nerve and kidney damage.
According to the statistics of the American Heart Association, nearly two-thirds (65 per cent) of diabetics are going to die of heart disease or stroke.
How the research was performed
For the purpose of this research, Fox’s group of specialists gathered data concerning 9 540 patients from 45 to 64 years of age, who took part in the Framingham Heart Study, large population-based research.
The investigators used the data in order to compare risk factors for heart disease and cardiovascular events including heart attacks from two different periods of time. According to the report, the first group was observed between 1952 and 1974, and the second group was inspected between 1975 and 1998.
The investigators discovered that risk for heart disease attributable to type 2 diabetes was 5.2 per cent between 1952 and 1974. Nevertheless, that number rocketed to 7.8 per cent between 1975 and 1998. The substantial majority of the elevated risk appeared among male participants with diabetes.
Rates have doubled
Furthermore, Fox’s team also discovered that the occurrence of diabetes among patients suffering from heart disease nearly doubled between the time periods. The occurrence of obesity rose over time as well, they discovered.
The results confirm those from the research published by the same team of scientists last June in Circulation. In that research, Fox’s group analyzed data concerning over 3 400 American citizens between 40 and 55 years of age who were also taking part in the Framingham research. Following the partakers from the 1970s through to the 1990s, Fox and her team discovered that rates of diabetes have doubled within that period of time.
"In terms of public health, diabetes has to be more efficiently managed with respect to cardiovascular disease management," Fox explained. "Eventually, diabetes must be prevented," she added. According to scientists, that involves curbing the obesity epidemic.
Deeb also said that whereas much diabetes results from obesity, genetics also plays very important role, particularly among blacks, Hispanics and people from South Asia. "There are lots of variables that come into play apart from your body mass index," he explained.
Another specialist agreed that more has to be done. "This is very significant research that emphasizes the augmented risk for cardiovascular disease that patients with diabetes confront," added Dr Gregg Fonarow, a professor of clinical medicine at the University of California, Los Angeles.
"There is a critical necessity to aggressively treat all individuals suffering from diabetes with cardiovascular protective medicines, risk factor control, and lifestyle change as suggested in national guidelines," Fonarow explained.
