Diabetes More Dangerous for Women’s Hearts

Heart Disease Death Risk 50% Greater for Diabetic Women Than Diabetic Men Women with diabetes run a significantly greater risk of dying from heart disease than men with diabetes. The difference is about 50% greater for diabetic women than for diabetic men, say Australian researchers.

"More aggressive treatment of diabetes in women may help to offset the increase in heart disease risk that is apparent in postmenopausal women," they say.

Biostatistics professor Mark Woodward, PhD, and colleagues, stated that the data came from previous studies. Altogether, more than 450,000 people participated. Subjects lived in the Asia-Pacific region (China, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore, Thailand, New Zealand, and Australia).

About 5% of all participants said they had diabetes, according to a news release. As expected, people with diabetes were at a disadvantage in regard to their heart’s health.

They found that women with diabetes were nearly 2.5 times more likely to die of heart disease than women without diabetes. Men with diabetes also had a higher heart disease death risk compared with men without diabetes. Their risk was nearly 1.9 times — or almost 90% — higher than that of men without diabetes.

Using those numbers, the researchers calculated that diabetic women have about a 50% greater risk of heart disease death compared with men with diabetes.

Most studies included heart disease risk factors like age, smoking, total cholesterol, and high blood pressure.

SOURCES: Second International Conference on Women, Heart Disease, and Stroke, Orlando, Fla., Feb. 16-19, 2005. News release, American Heart Association.