Monitoring blood sugar, LDL-cholesterol and blood pressure levels may help lower the risk for cardiovascular diseases. However, a new review has found that only seven percent of diabetes patients involved in three large heart studies had ideal levels for all three risk factors.
The three risk factors are major indicators of potential cardiovascular diseases. The findings suggested that better management of these risk factors among people with diabetes is needed to help prevent future heart conditions.
In the study, researchers from the University of California, Irvine (UCI) School of Medicine analyzed 2,018 adult diabetes patients who participated in three heart studies between late 1980s and early 2000s, namely the Jackson Heart Study, the Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities Study or the Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis.
None of the diabetes patients had known cardiovascular diseases when they participated. About 57 percent of the study participants were female. Overall, the three studies analyzed a diverse participant group including African Americans (55 percent), Caucasians (30 percent), Hispanic (11 percent) and Asians or Pacific Islanders (four percent).
The team compared the participants' three-factor measurements to the recommended guidelines from the American Diabetes Association in effect at that time. They found that 41 percent met one out of three, 27 percent met two and only seven percent met all three.
But here's the good part: The study participants who kept the three risk factors in check had 62 percent decreased cardiovascular disease risk.
When the three studies were conducted, diabetes treatments were not as good as the ones available today. Recent data, however, revealed that despite the improvements in new treatments, only 25 percent of diabetic Americans managed to keep their blood pressure, blood sugar and cholesterol in ideal levels.
"But we have done a dismal job nationally at getting most of our patients with diabetes controlled for even just these three measures," said lead study author Nathan D. Wong, UCI's Heart Disease Prevention Program director.
Wong stressed the value of lowering the levels of these risks factors as cardiovascular diseases are the leading death causes for diabetes patients. The review was published in the journal Diabetes Care.
