Women's Health
Women's Heart Risks Increase with High Blood SugarIncreased blood sugar levels signal a heightened risk of heart disease, especially among women, according to a report in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.
Women may face a greater risk for heart disease at lower blood sugar levels than men.
"The new definition of high fasting glucose, which is defined as a blood sugar between 100 and 125 milligrams per deciliter [of blood], has the same predictive value of diabetes and heart disease as the old definition of fasting glucose, which was 110 to 125 milligrams per deciliter," says lead researcher Dr. Caroline Fox, a medical officer with the Framingham Heart Study. At any blood sugar level, adds Fox, women have a higher risk of developing diabetes and heart disease compared with men. Women Affected More than MenIn the study, Fox collected data on 4,058 men and women who were the children of the original participants in the Framingham Heart Study, a 50-year research project named for a Massachusetts town. During four years of follow up, 291 people in Fox's clinical trial developed heart disease. The researchers found that the higher the blood sugar at the start of the study, the greater the likelihood of developing heart disease. Based on the new definition of high blood sugar, the researchers determined that women were at greater risk for developing heart disease than men. Specifically, women whose blood sugar was at 110 to 125 milligrams per deciliter of blood had the same risk of developing heart disease as women with diabetes. Dr. John B. Buse, president for medicine and science at the American Diabetes Association (ADA), says this study confirms what other studies have found. "Women who don't have diabetes usually don't have heart attacks," says Buse, director of the Diabetes Care Center at the University of North Carolina. "Women with diabetes, basically, all have heart attacks." Amy Tucker, M.D. , Associate Professor of Medicine at the University of Virginia Health System, says this study's results aren't surprising. "They support observations that impaired glucose tolerance has a particularly strong correlation with risk of coronary heart disease in young women," she says. "Younger women are typically at low risk for heart attacks, but impaired glucose tolerance significantly diminishes the protective effects of gender in young women." Fasting Glucose Test RecommendedPeople at risk of diabetes should have their blood sugar measured, adds Buse. "If the fasting glucose test is more than 100 milligrams per deciliter [of blood], it means that you are at risk of developing diabetes and you may have some excess risk of heart disease, particularly if you are a woman," he says. The ADA recommends that everyone older than 45 should have a fasting glucose test, Buse says. "Normal is less than 100 milligrams per deciliter, so 99 is normal, 100 isn't. If the test is normal, it should be repeated every three years," he says. People under 45 who are overweight and have any risk factors for diabetes should be screened earlier and more often, he says. For women with impaired glucose tolerance, UVA's Tucker says, they can better control their blood sugar by getting 150 minutes of aerobic exercise a week, losing weight if they're overweight or obese and eating a high-fiber diet. To learn more about diabetes or other women's health topics, visit www.uvahealth.com. Women can learn more about their unique risks for heart disease - and how to better manage those risks - through Live Red, UVA's new heart-health initiative. You'll learn how heart-attack symptoms can be different for women than for men, and you can take an online risk assessment to learn your personal heart disease risk factors. There, you can sign up for Club Red, our free heart-healthy club for women. Benefits include tips from UVA healthcare providers and a gift package to help you live red in style. Always consult your physician for more information. Online Resources(Our organization is not responsible for the content of Internet sites.) AHA - Go Red for Women Campaign National Diabetes Education Program National Women's Health Information Center NIH - Office of Research on Women's Health WomenHeart: the National Coalition for Women with Heart Disease |
What Is Diabetes?Diabetes is a metabolic disorder characterized by a failure to secrete enough insulin, or, in some cases, the cells do not respond appropriately to the insulin that is produced. Because insulin is needed by the body to convert glucose into energy, these failures result in abnormally high levels of glucose accumulating in the blood. Diabetes may be a result of other conditions such as genetic syndromes, chemicals, drugs, malnutrition, infections, viruses or other illnesses. The three main types of diabetes - type 1, type 2 and gestational - are all defined as metabolic disorders that affect the way the body uses digested food to make glucose, the main source of fuel for the body. In prediabetes, blood glucose levels are higher than normal but not high enough to be defined as diabetes. However, many people with prediabetes develop type 2 diabetes within 10 years, according to the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases. Prediabetes also increases the risk of heart disease and stroke. With modest weight loss and moderate physical activity, people with prediabetes can delay or prevent type 2 diabetes. For glucose to be able to move into the cells of the body, the hormone insulin must be present. Insulin is produced primarily in the pancreas, and normally is readily available to move glucose into the cells. However, in people with diabetes, either the pancreas produces too little or no insulin, or the cells do not respond to the insulin that is produced. This causes a buildup of glucose in the blood, which passes into the urine where it is eventually eliminated, leaving the body without its main source of fuel. Always consult your physician for more information. |