The Toll Diabetes Exerts on the Middle Aged

A 48-year-old man with diabetes has a 1 in 5 chance of having a heart attack before he’s 58. And a 54-year-old woman has a 1 in 5 chance of a heart attack before she retires. Grim numbers, indeed. They are based on a report from Canada reported in the medical journal Lancet. About 380,000 people in Ontario with diabetes were compared with 9 million people without diabetes over the period 1994 to 2000. Unfortunately, type 1 and type 2 diabetics weren’t analyzed separately. Nevertheless, the findings must surely apply to both groups, if blood glucose control isn’t excellent.

The risk of heart disease increased with age in both diabetics and non-diabetics, but for those with diabetes the transition from moderate to high risk occurred at about 48 (men) or 54 (women) – 14½ years younger than in non-diabetics!

The conclusions to be drawn are clear. Young folk should avoid diabetes as far as possible, by appropriate lifestyle changes. And for those with diabetes – type 1 or type 2 – aggressive cardiovascular risk reduction should start before they reach 40.