A prospective study of maturity-onset diabetes mellitus and risk of coronary heart disease and stroke in women

Article Abstract:

Diabetes has long been known to be a risk factor for cardiovascular disease, but the magnitude of that risk is unknown. Over 100,000 women enrolled in a long-term study known as the Nurses' Health Study were followed-up to determine the prevalence of diabetes and the rate of cardiovascular disease, specifically fatal and nonfatal heart attack and stroke. Women with maturity-onset diabetes were found to have six times the risk for heart attack of nondiabetic women. Their risk of stroke was four times greater than that of nondiabetics. Women whose diabetes was diagnosed before the age of 30 had a 12-fold greater than normal chance of developing heart disease, and a 10-fold greater than normal chance of having a stroke. Heart disease among diabetics was found to be even more prevalent in the presence of other known cardiac risk factors, such as smoking, high blood pressure, high cholesterol levels and obesity. Of the 100,000 women studied, diabetics accounted for 2 percent, yet they accounted for 14 percent of the cases of heart disease and 12 percent of strokes. Diabetes causes this increased risk of heart disease and stroke through a variety of mechanisms, such as causing platelets, blood-clotting cells, to become more "sticky," increasing the likelihood of blood clots, or causing damage to the small blood vessels of the heart and brain. Since some cases of adult-onset diabetes can be prevented merely by preventing obesity, these data underscore the need to do so. Further, once diabetes has developed, modifying the other risk factors, such as smoking and high blood pressure, becomes even more important. (Consumer Summary produced by Reliance Medical Information, Inc.)

Care and treatment, Complications and side effects, Demographic aspects, Coronary heart disease, Diabetes, Diabetes mellitus, Type 2 diabetes

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Body weight, weight change, and risk for hypertension in women

Article Abstract:

Women may lower their risk of hypertension by losing weight. Researchers analyzed weight loss, weight gain and the risk of hypertension in 82,473 women participating in the Nurses' Health Study, which was begun in 1976. Long-term weight loss after the age of 18 substantially lowered the risk of hypertension, while weight gain increased the risk. The benefit of weight loss was greater among women who weighed the most at the age of 18. The association between weight gain and hypertension was strongest in women younger than 45 years old.

Health aspects, Hypertension, Weight loss, Weight gain, Body weight

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