Increase in heart attacks amongst diabetes sufferers

Over the last ten years the number of diabetics suffering a heart attack has doubled. Almost 13,000 people with Type 2 diabetes are treated for heart attacks every year, twice as many as ten years ago. This trend is particularly worrying due to the rise in the number of people developing Type 2 diabetes, a condition associated with being overweight. There are now over 2 million Britons with Type 2 diabetes. Libby Dowling, a care adviser at Diabetes UK, said: “The numbers are growing and reaching epidemic proportions. We are seeing people diagnosed younger and so the complications are likely to happen earlier. Type 2 diabetes is clearly linked to obesity and being overweight – 80 per cent of people diagnosed with type 2 diabetes are overweight. “ Diabetes sufferers are five times more likely to develop heart disease due to their high blood sugar levels. Douglas Smallwood, the chief executive of Diabetes UK, added: “This research is particularly worrying as 100,000 people are diagnosed with type 2 diabetes every year and around 80 per cent of people with diabetes die of heart-related complications. It is vital that people with diabetes have access to high quality care to enable them to control their condition, or we could see this heart time-bomb explode with huge costs to people’s health and an already overburdened NHS.”