Diabetes Type 2 Ages You By 15 Years

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Main Category: Diabetes
Also Included In: Obesity / Weight Loss / Fitness
Article Date: 30 Jun 2006 - 20:00 PDT

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If you develop diabetes type 2 you are likely to suffer from heart attacks, strokes and other cardiovascular problems 15 years earlier than somebody who does not have diabetes type 2, according to scientists from the Institute of Clinical Evaluative Sciences, Toronto, Canada.

You can read about this study in the journal The Lancet.

According to Dr. Gillian Booth, lead researcher "The rates are consistently higher."

Dr. Booth and team looked at the hospital and death records of over nine million Canadians: 379,000 of them had diabetes. Their aim was to see whether they could calculate how much quicker people with diabetes type 2 develop cardiovascular illnesses compared to healthy individuals.

Here are some of their findings:

Men with diabetes type 2
- Enter moderate-risk category for cardiovascular disease at 39 years
- Enter high-risk category for cardiovasucalr disease at 49 years

Men without diabetes type 2
- Enter moderate-risk category for cardiovascular disease at 55 years
- Enter high-risk category for cardiovasucalr disease at 62 years

Women with diabetes type 2
- Enter moderate-risk category for cardiovascular disease at 46 years
- Enter high-risk category for cardiovasucalr disease at 56 years

Women without diabetes type 2
- Enter moderate-risk category for cardiovascular disease at 62 years
- Enter high-risk category for cardiovasucalr disease at 69 years

The researchers found that the life expectancy of an average person with diabetes type two and who was also of moderate or high risk for cardiovascular disease lived 18 years less than the average individual who did not have diabetes.

It is important to catch people who develop diabetes type 2 early on and to be more aggressive in getting them to become more physically active, eat well and attain their ideal body weight.

Dr. Booth said "Under 40, people with diabetes seem to have a low-to-moderate absolute risk of cardiovascular disease. So at that age, it makes sense to individualize treatment."

The number of people in the USA with type 2 diabetes has tripled over the last 30 years. The main reason is obesity, due to unhealthy eating habits and lack of physical activity. There are about 16m to 18m people with type 2 diabetes in the USA today.

The study did not look at the health consequences of people with diabetes type 1.

The Lancet.

Written by: Christian Nordqvist
Editor: Medical News Today
Copyright: Medical News Today
Not to be reproduced without permission of Medical News Today