Links Between Diabetes and Cardiovascular Disease

Diabetes is a disease where the body is unable to produce or use insulin effectively. Insulin is needed for proper storage and use of carbohydrates. Without it, blood sugar levels can become too high or too low, resulting in a diabetic emergency. It affects about 7.8% of the population. The incidence of diabetes is known to increase with age. It’s the leading cause of end-stage renal disease in the US, and is the primary cause of blindness and foot and leg amputation. It is known to cause neuropathy in up to 70% of diabetic patients. Individuals with diabetes are twice as likely to develop cardiovascular disease. There are two types of diabetes: Type 1 and Type 2.

Hyperglycemia is a very serious risk for heart disease and strokes. Complications from hyperglycemic diabetes may include coronary heart disease (CHD), heart failure, stroke, arrhythmias, or even death. High blood glucose (sugar) levels over time can lead to excess fatty deposits on the insides of your blood vessel walls. These deposits often affect blood flow, which increases the possibility of blood vessels clogging and/or hardening. As a result, this leads to heart disease. Furthermore, those with diabetic heart disease (DHD) may have less success with heart disease treatments, such as angioplasty or artery bypass grafting. “The common clustering of these risk factors in a single individual has been called the metabolic syndrome.” (Scott 1134) Uncontrolled diabetes, the biggest contributor to heart disease, is almost four times higher for adults than those without diabetes. The best way to prevent diabetic heart disease is to control it by way of reducing the risk factors through diet and lifestyle changes.

Diabetes mellitus (DM) is a pandemic that affects millions of people. The growth rate of unrecognized pre-diabetes in America is expected to rise up to 52% by 2020 (Lorenzo, 2013). As the prevalence of diabetes increases, so will the complications and burden of the disease. One of the leading causes for cardiovascular disease, renal failure, nontraumatic lower limb amputations, stroke, and new cases of blindness is DM (Lorenzo, 2013).

Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2D) is the most common form of diabetes (American Diabetes Association, 2012). T2D is so prevalent that it is estimated to be the fifth most common cause of death worldwide (Yates, Jarvis, Troughton, and JaneDavies, 2009, p. 1). T2D manifests when the body is unable to metabolize glucose properly, resulting in elevated blood sugar, debilitating fatigue, and other serious complications such as distal limb amputations, kidney failure, and blindness. The generally accepted causes of T2D include diet, sedentary lifestyle, and obesity.

The increase in the prevalence of type 2 diabetes is causing huge health problem through out the world including developed countries. Mostly people with low income groups are affected in developed countries (Zimmet 2001).The magnitude of the healthcare problem of type 2 diabetes results mainly from its association with obesity and cardiovascular risk factors. Indeed, type 2 diabetes has now been identified as one manifestation of the “metabolic syndrome”, a condition characterised by insulin resistance and associated with a range of cardiovascular factors (Jonathan 2003)

Diabetes continues to be a growing problem for the United States population especially type 2 diabetes, which “accounts for about 90% to 95% of all diagnosed cases of diabetes”(Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), 2014). Type 2 diabetes, formally known as adult onset diabetes, is defined as a “disorder of insulin resistance in which the cells primarily within the muscle, liver, and fat tissue do not use insulin properly. As the need for insulin rises the cells in the pancreas gradually lose the ability to produce enough hormone”(CDC, 2014). Diabetes as a whole affects about “9.3% of the US population or 29.1 million people” (American Diabetes Association (ADA), 2014; CDC, 2014). Despite the high prevalence of the disease, it is only going to continue to grow if nothing is done to correct the problem. The “United States spent an estimated $245 billion on diabetes in 2012” (ADA, 2014; CDC, 2014). This outrageous number and the drastic impact diabetes has on health should emphasis the need to reduce the diabetic population in the future.

Diabetes mellitus refers to a group of chronic diseases that “share the same phenotype of hyperglycemia” (Kalra & Gupta, 2015, p. 1). In simpler terms, diabetes is made up of a group of disorders where there is too much glucose in the blood. Whether it is type 1, type 2, or gestational, all can lead to severe health complications. Looking at the disease in a holistic way, it’s easy to see that it impacts more than just blood sugar; it affects the skin, eyes, nerves, feet, heart, blood vessels, family dynamics, mental health, and more. It’s imperative to point out that healthcare now places a lot of stress on prevention. This project will concentrate on diabetes type 2 because of prevention through lifestyle choices.

Changes in the human environment, behaviour and lifestyle are contributing to the upsurge in the incidence of diabetes. However, better management has resulted in a longer survival of patients with diabetes but it is accompanied by long-term chronic complications due to hyperglycemia 1. Individuals with diabetes most often die of cardiovascular disease (CVD) rather than from a cause uniquely related to diabetes, such as ketoacidosis or hypoglycemia2,3. Diabetic patients have a twofold to sixfold higher incidence of cardiovascular disease than nondiabetic population3,4 Furthermore, diabetic patients with CVD sustain a worse prognosis for survival than CVD patients without diabetes and their quality of life also depreciates. Therefore, diabetes

Diabetes has a huge impact on men and women higher in women who have cardiac disease problems or may lead to having cardiac problems. No matter the type of diabetes you have whether it be type 1 where you are insulin resistant or type 2 and you are not secreting enough insulin increases your risk for cardiac disease. Women with either type of diabetes not only increases their risk for cardiac problems but they are at risk for vascular problems such as having an MI and increased mortality rate. The factors that can contribute to these problems is poor glycemic control, elevated blood pressure and lipids, obesity, socioeconomic factors and depression.

The article I chose for the patient I had in clinical is titled Heart in Diabetes: A microvascular disease. I chose it based on his diagnoses of type 2 diabetes mellitus, coronary artery disease, and his need for coronary artery bypass graft. The study looked at clinical trials for the “common soil hypothesis in diabetes complications” and how diabetes is associated with cardiovascular disease and death. It confirmed that the risk of macrovascular disease, but especially coronary artery disease, is increased two-four times in diabetic patients. The article also said that while there are many other factors in the risk for death from cardiovascular disease, the effects that diabetes has on the microvascular system has a substantially higher detrimental

Within the abstract Downes states that the majority of chronic diseases i.e. heart disease, diabetes mellitus, and hypertension etc. (which is the leading cause of death/disability in the United States due its nature of only being controlled rather than cured) can be prevented by lifestyle behaviors. Formulating the research through the exploration of “physical activity,” “dietary habits,” and lastly, “weight status related to motivators and barriers of healthy lifestyle choices” of 106 college students. Downes introduces the issue that the majority of the American population does not heed the recommended physical activity and dietary habits in order to maintain optimum health and in turn causes such chronic diseases to develop overtime

Amongst the many people suffering from heart diseases worldwide, a good percentage of them are in the developed countries. These are people diagnosed with Diabetes or not, but are at high risk of heart diseases, even to a fatal level to about 50% (Al-Nozha, Ismail and Al-Nozha, 2016). Most of the people with heart complications are also likely to suffer diabetes, which adds to the complications of the illness. According to (2016), at least 50% of the deaths are a result of circulatory diseases while 75% of deaths result from coronary artery disease. Further notes highlight that at least 70% of the patients suffering heart diseases and diabetes are likely to succumb to death within ten years. Therefore, a solution for heart disease and diabetes management is fundamental to a healthy society.

Diabetes mellitus affects approximately 25.8 million Americans including adults and children (Darby, 2015, 824). Although, diabetes affects a high population of Americans approximately 7 million Americans are unaware due to being asymptomatic (Darby, 2015, 824). Diabetes mellitus is considered one of the leading causes of death due to microvascular and macrovascular complications (Al-Maskari et al., 2011). There are four major classifications associated with diabetes mellitus that include type 1 diabetes mellitus, type 2 diabetes mellitus, gestational diabetes mellitus, and other specific types (Darby, 2015, 824). Type 1 diabetes mellitus is associated with a

type 2 diabetes diagnosis for 6 months or longer; and (3) at risk for microvascular and macrovascular diabetes-related complications (HbA1c ≥ 7.0%) and either current systolic blood pressure of ≥130, LDL cholesterol ≥ 100, or BMI ≥ 30.”(miller et al 2013). Questionnaires were used to collect the data from the participants. These questionnaires were used to assess diabetic medical history, self care, and demographic information. As for physiologic measures, HbA1c values were obtained from venous fasting blood draws. A calibrated sphygmomanometer was used to

According to the Center for Disease Control, diabetesmellitusis among the top 10 causes of death in the United States (CDC, 2013). In 2013, 25.8 million people in the United States were confirmed to have diabetes, and another 57 million individuals had prediabetes, a condition that puts individuals at risk to develop diabetes laterin life(Saxon et al, 2015). For the remainder of this paper, the focus shall remain on Type 2 diabetes, formerly known as non-insulin-dependent or adult-onset diabetes, which accounts for 95% of all cases of diabetes and is characterized by hyperglycemia caused by insulin resistance.This insulin resistance is a results of cells which cannot use insulin properly, a decrease in insulin secretion, elevated hepatic