ADA:
Link Between Heart Disease and Inflammation
Doctors
found higher levels of markers of inflammation in the blood of people
with heart disease
The
Link was made, in part, when doctors found higher levels of markers of
inflammation in the blood of people with heart disease and then found
that such markers also predicted risk for a heart attack. Higher
levels of those same markers have now been found in people with
diabetes and those at high risk for diabetes. One of those markers is
CRP (C-reactive protein), which appears to be elevated in the presence
of heart disease, diabetes, and obesity. “It’s possible that if
you have excessive fat, substances secreted from fat stimulate markers
of inflammation,” explained Vivian Fonseca, M.D., professor of
medicine at Tulane University, New Orleans, who spoke at a symposium
on diabetic dyslipidemia and inflammation. “So inflammation may be
the common link for developing insulin resistance, diabetes, and heart
disease, making it very attractive to monitor and treat high CRP
levels.”
In
an ancillary study of the Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities (ARIC)
project, an NIH funded research effort, more than 10,000 people who
did not have diabetes were followed with blood sampling for nine
years. The researchers found an association between developing
diabetes and a series of inflammatory markers, especially sialic acid,
according to Bruce Duncan, M.D., Ph.D., associate professor in the
School of Medicine of the Federal University of Rio Grande
do Sul. “The quarter of the sample with the highest
levels of these markers were at a 20% to 60% higher risk than the
lowest quarter, clearly suggesting that something about the
inflammatory response is related to diabetes.”
American
Diabetes Association's 62nd Annual Scientific Sessions
See item 12 for more research
