Diabetes greatly increases the risk of cardiovascular disease.
Studies have shown that the risk of cardiovascular events is two to three times higher in men with diabetes and three to five times higher in women with diabetes. Seventy percent of deaths in patients with diabetes are related to cardiovascular events. The age-adjusted prevalence of 45 percent in white adults who have diabetes is approximately twice that in comparable patients who do not have diabetes. This alarming disparity is likely to increase despite the fact that the incidence of heart disease is declining in the general population. In patients with diabetes, the incidence of heart disease is not declining but may be stable or rising.