Higher rate of diabetes among people who suffer heart attacks
People who suffer heart attacks appear to have a higher incidence of type 2 diabetes or impaired glucose tolerance, according to a recent study published in The Lancet. This suggests that a heart attack is a prediabetes risk equivalent.
It is well known that people who suffer from type 2 diabetes or from the prediabetic equivalent – impaired glucose tolerance – have a higher risk of suffering a heart attack. What was not known was the risk of developing type 2 diabetes among those who suffered a heart attack.
Dariush Mozaffrian and colleagues, from various institutions, set out to examine the incidence of type 2 diabetes in people who had suffered a heart attack and to investigate whether lifestyle factors, such as diet, may affect this risk.
They looked at information from 8219 Italian patients who had suffered a heart attack in the previous three months and who did not have diabetes at the time. They were followed up for three and a half years, during which time their fasting blood glucose, body mass index and diet were assessed. Just under 1000 of these people developed new onset diabetes and just over 2000 people developed impaired glucose tolerance during this time. Risk factors appeared to be a high body mass index, gaining weight during follow up, smoking, poor diet and drinking more than one litre of wine a day. The authors suggest that giving up smoking, preventing weight gain and diet high in typical Mediterranean foods may lower this risk.
Mozaffrian D et al. The Lancet 2007; 370: 667-675
For a summary of the article, see here http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140673607613439/abstract
