People with diabetes at higher risk of heart problems, evidence finds

Cardiovascular complications are more likely to develop in people with diabetes compared to those without the condition, latest research indicates.

Individuals can stop heart problems from progressing by cutting their alcohol intake and reducing how often they smoke, the study has reported.

People with good hypertension and hyperlipidaemia control are also less likely to experience cardiovascular events, the results show.

In addition, the research findings have identified that weight loss is linked to better heart health.

During the trial, around 1,930 people completed a questionnaire on different indicators of cardiovascular disease risk factors, such as waist circumference, family history, creatinine, gender, smoking, blood urea, body mass index, alcohol intake, physical inactivity, fasting blood sugar, dyslipidaemia, blood pressure, age and fruit and vegetable consumption.

According to the results, 80 per cent of the participants were also living with metabolic syndrome.

The authors said: “In the logistic regression model, smoking, alcohol consumption, and triglycerides were identified as the factors associated with metabolic syndrome.

“Cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death and disability in people with diabetes mellitus, since finding the correlation between diabetes and cardiovascular risk factors can be effective in preventing the incidence of morbidity and mortality in people.”

The study is available here.