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Women living with prediabetes and type 2 diabetes have a greater risk of developing cardiovascular disease (CVD), according to new research.
The study, led by researchers at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine (LSHTM) and University College London (UCL), analysed UK Biobank data from 427,435 UK individuals (54.2% women, 45.8% men) across the glycaemic spectrum, including people with blood sugar levels within a ‘normal’ range, those with prediabetes, and those with diabetes. The research is published in The Lancet Regional Health – Europe.
It found that women and men with type 2 diabetes have a greater risk of CVD compared to those with prediabetes and those without diabetes. People with prediabetes – meaning their blood sugar levels are just below the diabetes range (between 42-47 mmol/mol) – were also found to have a higher CVD risk than people with blood sugar levels in the non-diabetes range.
Women with prediabetes had 30-50% greater risk of developing CVD
Lead author Dr Christopher Rentsch from LSHTM said: “This work represents a meaningful step forward from decades of research on diabetes and heart disease. We quantified differences in the risk of heart disease between men and women across the full range of blood sugar levels. What we discovered is that those risks are not only confined to people with diagnosed diabetes, that men and women with prediabetes are also significantly affected. Our team also uncovered compelling evidence that within the ‘normal’ blood sugar range, a lower level appears to be better for protecting against heart disease.”
Women with prediabetes had a 30-50% greater risk of developing CVD compared to women without diabetes, and this figure was 30% for men with prediabetes.
The researchers suggested these differences might be explained by women with prediabetes and type 2 diabetes being more likely to live with obesity and less likely to be prescribed statins and blood pressure-lowering drugs (medications that can protect against CVD) than men. Therefore, interventions to target these factors, such as increasing statin use in women, could help to close the gap in CVD risk between men and women with prediabetes and type 2 diabetes.
Dr Lucy Chambers, Head of Research Communications at Diabetes UK, said: “This important new research, co-funded by Diabetes UK and the British Heart Foundation, highlights strategies that could tackle sex-based inequalities in cardiovascular disease outcomes, including greater use of antihypertensive and statin medications in women.
“The research is also an important reminder that having higher than normal blood sugar levels over long periods damages blood vessels, increasing risk of cardiovascular diseases, and that this effect can be seen not only in people with diabetes but also prediabetes.”