A recent study shows that women with diabetes may have a higher risk of developing coronary heart disease as compared to men with the same disease. The study was conducted by researchers from the University of Queensland in Australia, University of Cambridge in the UK, University Medical Center Utrecht in the Netherlands and the George Institute for Global Health in Sydney, Australia. Results of the said study were published in Diabetologica, the journal for the European Association for the Study of Diabetes.
The researchers conducted a systematic review of data collected from 64 studies comprised of over 850,000 people. The data used was collected from a period of almost 50 years, from 1966 to 2011. The meta-analysis of the collected data indicated that women with diabetes are three times as more likely to develop coronary heart disease as compared to women who did not have the disease. Men with diabetes are twice as likely to develop CHD as compared to men without diabetes. Upon comparing the two sets of data taken, the researchers found out that women with diabetes are 44 percent more likely to develop CHD as compared to men with diabetes, even after considering other factors such as gender differences.
The new analysis was quite consistent across different subgroups that were defined by age, region and other categories. Other smaller studies also seem to substantiate the findings. One such study showed that women with diabetes are 46 percent more likely to die from CHD as compared to men with diabetes. Another study indicated that women with diabetes have a 25 percent increased risk of stroke as compared to men with the same disease. These findings provide convincing evidence that diabetes poses a greater risk among women than in men when it comes to developing cardiovascular diseases.
Source: Diabetologia. (2014, May 23). Women with diabetes 44 percent more likely to develop coronary heart disease than men with diabetes, study of 850,000 people shows. ScienceDaily. Retrieved May 28, 2014 from www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/05/140523082932.htm
Tags: coronary heart disease, Diabetes News, diabetes study, diabetic women, heart disease risk