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Doctors and other experts in the field, who spoke at Heart of the Heart Foundation's month's launch at the Spanish Court in Kingston, confirmed a strong correlation between diabetes and cardiovascular diseases, often considered as distinct diseases.
"Many people do not know that diabetes can lead to heart disease, they are almost seen as two different things. So we thought we would use this month just to educate the public about the potential impact of diabetes on heart disease, what people with diabetes can do to prevent heart disease, and in doing so, they will have avoided all other health problems that may occur. with high blood sugar, "said Deborah Chen, Executive Director of the Heart Foundation.
Chen told the Observer from Jamaica that the foundation, for the month of February, focuses on the theme: "The diabetic heart, are you at risk"? To this question, the experts who spoke at the launch gave a categorical "yes".
Professor Michael Boyne, professor of endocrinology and metabolism at the University of the West Indies (UWI), said:
"Worldwide, two-thirds of people with diabetes die from heart disease. When I talk to many patients and ask them why people with diabetes die, they say sugar, but they do not know what it means. But in the days before any form of treatment, people would have died in a particular type of coma badociated with diabetes. Nowadays, when people are treated, most people with diabetes die as a result of a heart attack because diabetes speeds up the hardening of the arteries. As you get older, this process becomes extremely effective in this diabetic individual. "
Dr. Boyne also noted that there were other complications related to diabetes, including dementia, deafness, cancer, depression, lung disease and heart failure.
"We also recognize that diabetes causes heart failure. In this case, the heart does not beat as well as it should. And when people suffer from heart failure, which is very common among people with diabetes, they complain of shortness of breath, heart palpitations and swelling of the legs, "said the Dr. Boyne.
Dr. Tamu Davidson, Director of Chronic Disease and Injury Prevention at the Ministry of Health, explained that diabetes plays a major role in the development of cardiovascular disease.
"In particular, one third of Jamaicans die of cardiovascular disease. The next groups are cancer and diabetes. What we do know is that there is a clear link between diabetes and heart disease or cardiovascular disease, in that it is not only the complication of diabetes, but that diabetes contributes to that large number that we are observing with respect to cardiovascular disease, "said Dr. Davidson, adding that" Even with controlled diabetes, we know that if they have other risk factors such as smoking, alcohol, obesity or high cholesterol, we know they are at a higher risk of getting cardiovascular disease. "
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