Diabetes A Major Risk for Heart Disease

Heart Association ranks diabetes with high blood pressure and smoking

BOSTON — September, 1999 — Recognizing that the increase in diabetes nationwide as the population ages may lead to a sizable increase in heart disease, the American Heart Association for the first time has called diabetes a major modifiable risk factor for heart disease.

Health officials hope the listing of diabetes will focus attention of patients and physicians on preventing or aggressively treating diabetes and its complications.

Other modifiable risk factors that the heart association has pinpointed in the past as leading to heart disease include obesity, a sedentary lifestyle, high blood pressure, high cholesterol and smoking. While major national campaigns against high blood pressure, high cholesterol and smoking have existed for some time, a major, visible campaign against high blood sugar and against obesity have not.

An estimated 10.3 million Americans have been diagnosed with diabetes, while another 15 million are believed to have undiagnosed diabetes or elevated blood sugar levels that could put them at risk. All of these people are at greater risk of heart disease — up to four times greater than people who have normal blood sugar levels. About 80 percent of people with diabetes go on to develop some form of cardiovascular disease.

The U.S. has one of the highest rates in the world of both diabetes and heart disease, largely because of sedentary lifestyle and poor diet. Certain ethnic groups, including African Americans, Latinos, Asians and Native Americans, have some of the highest rates of diabetes in the United States, according to Om Ganda, Senior Physician at Joslin Clinic in Boston.

For information about how you can modify your risk of developing heart disease if you have diabetes, click here.