Health
Diabetes reduces life expectancy, increases heart disease
NEWS IN BRIEF — Posted July 2, 2007
Women older than 50 who have diabetes will lose an average of 8.2 years of life and will have 8.4 fewer years without cardiovascular disease than those without this condition. Men will lose 7.5 years of life and 7.8 years free of heart trouble, according to a paper published in the June 11 Archives of Internal Medicine.
A multinational team used data from the Framingham Heart Study to build life tables and calculate the association of diabetes with mortality and heart-related morbidity. Diabetes more than doubled the risk of developing cardiovascular disease and significantly increased the risk of dying from this condition once it developed.
The authors suggest that these data indicate that reducing diabetes is the key to achieving healthy aging of the population. "Prevention of diabetes is a fundamental task facing today's society."
Note: This item originally appeared at http://www.ama-assn.org/amednews/2007/07/02/hlbf0702.htm.