People with diabetes are two to four times more likely to develop cardiovascular disease than people without diabetes, making it the most common complication of diabetes. Research shows that cardiovascular deaths are either high or appear to be increasing in countries where diabetes is prevalent.
People with diabetes are two to four times more likely to develop cardiovascular disease than people without diabetes
Considering that the number of people with diabetes around the world is predicted to double over the coming decades, the outlook for cardiovascular disease becomes even more alarming.
The recent decline in cardiovascular disease in the USA, Australasia and western Europe may be compromised significantly by this upsurge in diabetes. In other parts of the world, where cardiovascular disease has been proliferating in recent years, the additional impact of the diabetes epidemic threatens to have devastating consequences.
Diabetes is already consuming up to 10 percent of total national healthcare budgets in many countries. About half of this expense can be attributed to the costs of managing diabetes complications. As reflected in the patterns of hospital admissions for the treatment of complications, cardiovascular complications account for the bulk of this. It is therefore clear that the current situation has enormous implications in both human and economic terms.
In short, the predicted escalation in diabetes prevalence is likely to contribute to a cardiovascular disease epidemic, particularly in the developing world - unless preventive measures are taken as a matter of urgency.