Diabetic Women at Greater Risk of Heart Failure Than Diabetic Men

India had 69 million diabetic individuals in 2015, and the estimate is expected to rise to 98 million by 2030.

(Photo: iStockphoto)

A recent study has found that the risk of heart problems with diabetes can differ based on gender — with women being more at risk than men.

As reported by CNN, the study found that Type 1 diabetes was associated with a 47 percent increased risk of heart failure in women compared with men, and type 2 diabetes was associated with a 9 percent increased risk.

Researchers are yet to find the reason why this risk differs in both types of diabetes.

Sanne Peters, a research fellow at the George Institute for Global Health at the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom, and one of the authors of the paper, said,

“Once women have diabetes, they have a much higher risk of heart failure than women without diabetes.”

Sanne Peters

The paper, published in published in the journal Diabetologia, reviewed 14 published studies from January 1996 to November 2018, that had examined the link between diabetes and heart failure risk. Around 12 million people and 253260 cases of heart failures were studied to reach the conclusions.

While researchers are still figuring out the reason behind this difference, some potential theories are that diabetes is a stronger risk factor for coronary heart disease in women, and that women have a low absolute risk for heart failure compared to men — which could be driving the difference in mathematical terms.

“The bottom line really comes down to that people should have a healthy lifestyle, so eat healthfully and exercise a lot. It is important to maintain a healthy weight.”

Sanne Peters

According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), India had 69 million diabetic individuals in 2015, and the estimate is expected to rise to 98 million by 2030.