Diabetes and Heart Disease!

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What is the correlation between diabetes and heart disease? Well…in many cases, heart disease is a serious health condition that can be a common problem for individuals with diabetes.

The blood vessels of the body can be damaged due to the high levels of blood sugar over the years. And this is particularly true in the brain and heart! Therefore, two common complications for people with diabetes are stroke and heart disease.

According to the statistical data on webmd.com -- the following are several statics about the correlation between diabetes and heart disease:

1. About 2 of 3 individuals with diabetes die due to stroke or heart disease.
2. The risk of heart disease in individuals with diabetes tends to develop earlier (at a younger age) than individuals who don’t have diabetes.
3. And as mentioned before, the risk of heart disease is lower for people without diabetes than people with diabetes.

Furthermore, the risk of stroke in people with diabetes is higher (2-4 times higher) than if compared to individuals who don’t have diabetes. In addition, stroke is one of serious health risks, but in many cases heart disease affects more often than stroke.

Heart disease types in people who have diabetes!

Below are two common types (which also often related to each other):

1. Congestive heart failure! It is a serious health problem (chronic) which is a condition that can cause the heart lose its ability to work on pumping blood properly & effectively. Shortness of breath with leg swelling & exertion are some common major symptoms of congestive heart failure.
2. CAD (it stands for ‘Coronary Artery Disease’) is usually closely associated to the slow narrowing of the arteries by fatty deposits, or known ‘plaques’. A heart attack can occur when one of arteries of heart is clogged due to the blockage from the suddenly ruptures of a cholesterol plaque.

Factors that  increase the risk of heart diseases for people with diabetes!

As written before, the risk of heart disease is relatively high in people who have diabetes, and this can be worse due to several factors. Below are some of these factors:

1. A diet high in cholesterol and saturated fat.
2. Having one or some of family members who also has heart disease!
3. Cannot quit from bad habits, like smoking.
4. Metabolic syndrome (a group of risk factors that can increase the risk of heart disease, such as; (a) high blood pressure, (b) bad cholesterol level (like a condition with higher bad cholesterol (LDL) than good cholesterol (HDL)), and (c) obesity (particularly abdominal obesity -- more than 40 inches for men & more than 35 inches for women)).

Manage well your diabetes to prevent heart disease!

There are some ways on how to reduce the risk of heart disease in people with diabetes. The following are some of these helpful ways: 

1. ABCs-slogan! This means you have to get A1c (a kind of blood test to get a rough assessment of the levels of your blood sugar), maintain well your blood pressure, and don’t forget to consider and control the levels of your cholesterol (make sure HDL is greater than 40 and LDL is less than 100 -- common recommendation for people with diabetes).
2. Do appropriately exercise and do it properly. Exercise is helpful to control your blood sugar easier, and also good idea to support your weight loss program.
3. If you are smoker, then you have to stop smoking as earlier as possible!

In addition, ask your doctor whether or not you need to take a daily aspirin, because there are some individuals with diabetes who need to consume a daily aspirin in order to reduce their risk of having heart disease.

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Reference: WebMD