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Many Diabetics Have Hidden Heart Disease
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It sounds like once again a heart study that was only done on men. Jennifer – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – Many Diabetics May Have Symptomless Heart Disorder NEW YORK (Reuters Health) – Even diabetics who keep their condition under control and do not have any obvious symptoms of heart disease may be at risk for hidden heart problems, researchers in Canada report. In a new study, more than half of men aged 38 to 67 with well-controlled type 2 diabetes had a heart disorder called left ventricular diastolic dysfunction (LVDD). The findings suggest heart function should be evaluated soon after type 2 diabetes is diagnosed, even when there are no apparent signs of heart disease. LVDD is an impairment in the relaxation phase of the heart’s left ventricle, the main pumping chamber. This can lead to increased pressure and fluids in the lungs or in vessels that return blood to the heart and may be the first sign of diabetes-related heart damage. Many studies have been conducted to determine how common LVDD is in diabetics who have no heart disease symptoms. However, the type of screening used in the studies may have missed some cases, according to a team of researchers led by Dr. Paul Poirier, of the Quebec Heart Institute. In a study of 46 diabetic men who did not display any obvious signs of heart disease, Poirier’s team performed Doppler echocardiography, a technique that produces images of the heart in motion, in conjunction with measurements of the flow of blood in the lungs. In the January issue of the journal Diabetes Care, Poirier and his colleagues report that 60% of the men in the study had LVDD. “The major finding of this study is that LVDD is much more prevalent than previously suggested in subjects with type 2 diabetes who are free of clinically detectable heart disease,