Unsuspected diabetes common in heart patients

	Tweet

Diabetes often goes unrecognized—and therefore untreated—in people who suffer a Heart Attack or have severe Coronary heart disease, a new survey has found.

Dr. Darcy Green Conaway told Reuters Health that “the majority of patients” who are seen in emergency rooms with a Heart Attack or heart-related chest pain “have impaired glucose metabolism,” and this represents an opportunity for doctors to intervene. “Only once we recognize what we are missing can we then improve it.”

Among 1,199 heart patients who were seen at two hospitals in Kansas City, Missouri, 57 percent had abnormal glucose levels, Conaway and colleagues found.

Of these, 321 (27 percent) had known Diabetes. Among the remaining 878 patients, 126 (14 percent) had new-onset Diabetes, based on their fasting blood glucose level, the team reports in the American Journal of Cardiology.

However, only 35 percent of the patients with newly detected Diabetes were actually told about their condition and treated for Diabetes. “The remaining 65 percent were left undiagnosed and, hence, untreated on discharge,” the team notes.

“Importantly, we found a substantial number of patients who had high fasting plasma glucose levels,” a pre-Diabetes sign, but none of these patients received such a diagnosis.

Conaway and colleagues conclude in their report that “one way to ‘catch’ some of these undiagnosed patients” is to use a simple blood glucose test to screen people who go to the hospital because of a Heart Attack or severe Chest pain.

SOURCE: American Journal of Cardiology, August 1, 2005.

RELATED STORIES:
Phone contact with nurses linked with better outcomes for women with gestational diabetes   Death rate drops among Americans with diabetes -CDC   Correct treatment of common diabetic foot infections can reduce amputations   “Pre-diabetes,” diabetes rising among U.S. teens   Experimental bariatric surgery controls blood sugar in rats with diabetes   53 millions Americans might develop diabetes by 2025   New inflammation hormone link may pave way to study new drugs for type 2 diabetes   Diabetic retinopathy research could reduce screening costs   Liver fat gets a wake-up call that maintains blood sugar levels   Low testosterone levels could raise diabetes risk for men   Prosthetic lets diabetic get a foot up on life   Dealing with Diabetes, One Patient at a Time

Comments

[ + Post Your Own ]

Now you're in the public comment zone. What follows is not Armenian Medical Network's stuff; it comes from other people and we don't vouch for it. A reminder: By using this Web site you agree to accept our Terms of Service. Click here to read the Rules of Engagement.

There are no comments for this entry yet. [ + Comment here + ]