Type 2 diabetes patients: profiles, treatment and daily practice

Abdominal obesity and insulin resistance are very rarely found in isolation: most of the time they are associated with a cluster of other parameters or metabolic factors. These include dyslipidaemia, raised blood pressure, glucose and other factors which may be measured only in the research setting (such as interleukin-6 [IL-6]); each of these components per se is a risk factor for cardiovascular disease. Since several of them cluster in type 2 diabetes, it is no surprise that type 2 diabetes patients are at considerably higher risk for cardiovascular disease compared to people without diabetes. Diabetes Vasc Dis Res 2007;4(suppl 2):S12‐S16 doi:10.3132/dvdr.2007.020 Some of these risk factors belong to the list of variables evaluated in the INTERHEART study, which reviewed data from 52 countries worldwide and multiple ethnic groups. 1 Table 1 reveals that apolipoprotein B (apoB), smoking, diabetes, abdominal obesity and hypertension form part of the list that accounts for 90% of the risk of developing heart disease. Thus, the traditional risk factors still account for the majority of heart disease throughout the world across different ethnic groups. Two thirds of patients with type 2 diabetes die from coronary heart disease, other forms of heart disease such as heart failure or cerebrovascular disease. Diabetes increases 2‐4fold the risk of cardiovascular disease and doubles the risk of stroke. 2