Lowering Blood Sugars Reduces Risk Heart Disease

Each 1-percentage-point increase in HbA1c level was associated with a 14 percent increase in heart disease risk.

The researchers found that Hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c)–a measure of long-term blood glucose level–predicts heart disease risk in both diabetics and non-diabetics. An elevated blood glucose level is the defining feature of diabetes, but until now it was unclear whether elevated glucose levels contributed independently to increasing heart-disease risk. "In persons with diabetes, we know that traditional cardiovascular risk factors, such as hypertension and high cholesterol, should be treated aggressively. Our results also suggest that improving blood-glucose control may further reduce heart disease risk," said Elizabeth Selvin, PhD, MPH, lead author of the study and a postdoctoral fellow in the Bloomberg School of Public Health’s Department of Epidemiology.

The researchers used data from the Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities Study (ARIC), a community-based cohort of almost 16,000 people from four states–North Carolina, Mississippi, Maryland and Minnesota. HbA1c levels were taken from ARIC study participants during clinical examinations in 1990-1992. ARIC researchers tracked study participants for 10-12 years to acquire coronary heart disease events, hospitalizations and deaths.

In participants with diabetes, the researchers found a graded association between HbA1c and increasing coronary heart disease risk. Each 1-percentage-point increase in HbA1c level was associated with a 14 percent increase in heart disease risk. According to the study authors, the current target for "good" glycemic control established by the American Diabetes Association is an HbA1c value less than 7 percent. However, the researchers’ analyses suggest that heart disease risk begins to increase at values even below 7 percent.

They found that those study participants without diabetes but who had "high normal" HbA1c levels (approximately 5 percent to 6 percent) were at an increased heart disease risk, even after accounting for other factors such as age, cholesterol level, blood pressure, body mass index and smoking. Non-diabetic persons with HbA1c levels of 6 percent or higher had almost a two-fold greater heart disease risk compared to persons with an HbA1c level below 4.6 percent.
Archives of Internal Medicine, September 12, 2005

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FACT:
Overweight, obese could swell 50 percent in a decade: WHO – The number of overweight and obese people worldwide is set to increase by half over the next ten years, heightening their health risks, the World Health Organization said. “The number of overweight and obese people worldwide is set to increase by half over the next ten years, heightening their health risks,” the World Health Organization said. Around one billion people are currently affected worldwide, and the figure is set to rise to 1.5 billion by 2015 if current trends continue. Excessive weight increases the risk of heart disease, stroke, diabetes and other chronic diseases. "Approximately 80 percent of heart disease, stroke, and type 2 diabetes, and 40 percent of cancer could be avoided through healthy diet, regular physical activity and avoidance of tobacco use."

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