The Concept of CMR

Type 2 diabetes and CVD

Patients with type 2 diabetes are at high risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD) (1). In fact, heart disease is the leading cause of death among patients with type 2 diabetes (2). In a seminal study, Haffner et al. (3) noted that the risk of cardiovascular complications in diabetic patients was similar to that of non-diabetic patients who had experienced myocardial infarction. The link between diabetes and CVD is complex and not fully understood.

People with diabetes have a higher CVD risk, possibly because they also tend to have traditional risk factors such as obesity, hypertension, and dyslipidemia (4). Other authors have suggested, however, that factors related to diabetes itself—such as hyperglycemia and hyperinsulinemia—could explain this elevated CVD risk (1).