Heart
Risk for Diabetes "Less Than Previously Thought"
Diabetics
are not in the same league as heart disease patients for the risk
of heart attack
The UK researchers
found that diabetes patients were at less risk of heart attack
than patients with a history of coronary heart disease,
challenging the previous view that diabetics are in the same
league as heart disease patients with respect to heart attack
risk.
Dr Josie Evans and
colleagues from Ninewells Hospital in Dundee, Scotland, carried
out two studies involving more than 4,600 patients with type 2
diabetes and more than 8,700 patients with established coronary
heart disease.
Risk of death from all
causes, including cardiovascular death, and hospital admission for
heart attacks were calculated. The researchers found that in both
studies, the risk of death and hospital admission was higher in
those patients who had suffered a heart attack compared to the
patients with type 2 diabetes.
They said that their
findings have important implications for the way doctors treat the
risk of cardiovascular disease in patients with diabetes. "We
should be cautious about basing treatment decisions on individual
risk factors for cardiovascular disease in isolation," say
the researchers. The research is published in the current edition
of the British Medical Journal.
FACT
In
studies of nursing home octogenarians as well as in trials of
overweight, middle-aged adults, exercise is proving to be a
powerful therapy to reduce blood pressure, boost cardiovascular
health, strengthen muscles, improve metabolism, elevate mood and
maintain mental functioning. last Monday, a team of researchers
reported in the Annals of Internal Medicine that regular aerobic
exercise, even when it doesn't cause weight loss, drives down
blood pressure, regardless of age or weight or initial blood
pressure reading.
