How Is Diabetes Related to Heart Disease?

Being diagnosed with diabetes is serious business. While there has been a lot of progress in treating diabetes, diabetics also need to face their accompanying risk for heart disease.

Adults who have been diagnosed with diabetes have more than twice the risk for heart disease than other, symptom-free individuals of the same age. Diabetics tend to have a greater incidence for coronary artery disease and strokes at a younger age than their healthier counterparts. While premenopausal women enjoy a moderate level of protection from heart disease due to high levels of estrogen, diabetes effectively "cancels out" any protection a woman might otherwise have during her childbearing years.

Uncontrolled diabetes exacerbates the progression of coronary artery disease (CAD) by injuring the lining of the blood vessels and facilitating the buildup of fatty "plaque" (called atherosclerosis) that eventually cuts off the blood supply to the heart, brain and other organs. It can also contribute to peripheral artery disease (PAD) that can eventually lead to problems with the lower extremities and cerebral vascular disease (CVD) that is responsible for strokes and transient ischemic attacks, or TIAs.

Compromised arteries caused by diabetes can also be responsible for elevating blood pressure. By making the arteries less distensible, diabetics are at greater risk for blood pressure-related events like heart attacks and strokes. Diabetics may also experience irregular heart beats, breathlessness, swollen ankles and chest pain on exertion.

Diabetics with uncontrolled glucose levels have difficulties processing and using blood sugar in their bodies. This can often result in obesity, another primary risk factor for heart disease. Elevated triglycerides are also associated with poorly managed diabetes.

Diabetics may experience damage to their kidneys (called diabetic nephropathy) that is associated with elevated blood pressure. As damage to the kidneys increases, they become less likely to be able to filter waste products from the blood.

Left uncontrolled for extended periods of time, diabetes can cause irreparable damage to a number of organs, and even result in the loss of limbs or eyesight. The good news is that diabetes is treatable--the earlier the better. By lowering their blood glucose levels, diabetics can effectively manage the disease and return to a normal lifestyle. Treatment includes losing weight (especially the extra pounds that accumulate around the waist, which is associated with a higher risk for heart disease), learning to make "heart-healthy" eating choices and getting regular, aerobic exercise to manage blood pressure and to optimize cholesterol levels.