A study published in the professional magazine Diabetologia and which involved 850,000 people, shows that women with diabetes have a 44% greater risk than men of developing heart disease.
For this study, the researchers did a meta-analysis of 64 previous studies published in Europe, Asia, Australia and North America, going back to the 1960s. diabetes significantly increased the risk of dying from a heart attack or stroke in women than it does for men.
Make the diagnosis from pre-diabetes
Researchers are now trying to understand why. If, in the 1960s, we could have blamed the virtual absence of screening for cardiovascular diseases in women, this is certainly no longer the case today. Women are followed as much as men and receive almost identical treatment. “We believe that there may be a biological difference between men and women,” explains Dr Sanne Peters, epidemiologist at the University of Cambridge, co-author of this study.
For researchers, this increased risk means that women should get tested earlier, in the pre-diabetes stage, that is, before it turns into Type 2 diabetes, in order to implement regular blood sugar control.
“It is important to remember that cardiovascular disease is not the preserve of men. It is leading cause of female mortality before cancers, and they kill 7 times more women than breast cancer “ insists the doctor.
