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Page: << Prev | 1 | 2 "This report is a call to action to physicians to be aggressive in identifying patients and helping them by telling them to be more physically active and watch their weight," said Dr. V.S. Srinivas, an interventional cardiologist at Montefiore Medical Center in New York City.
The report "underscores the importance of identifying diabetics early on," he said. Srinivas believes physicians should be on the alert for persons at high risk of developing type 2 diabetes and intervene early.
The study indicates that intervention at an early age is a good strategy, Booth added.
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"Under 40, people with diabetes seem to have a low-to-moderate absolute risk of cardiovascular disease," she said. "So at that age, it makes sense to individualize treatment."
Srinivas said efforts at prevention could well start even earlier, with educational programs for children on the risks of diabetes.
The study covered only type 2 diabetes -- the kind that generally begins in the adult years, often due to being overweight and lack of exercise, Booth noted. An estimated 16 million to 18 million Americans have type 2 diabetes, triple the number 30 years ago, due in large part to the upsurge in obesity. People who are obese -- defined as a body mass index (BMI) of 30 or greater -- have a five-fold greater risk of type 2 diabetes than those with a normal BMI of 25 or less, according to the National Institutes of Health.
In type 2 diabetes, either the body does not produce enough insulin or the cells ignore the insulin, a hormone that converts blood sugar to energy for cells.
The study did not look at the effects of type 1 diabetes, an autoimmune disease in which the insulin-producing beta cells of the pancreas are destroyed. "We need to do work about that," Booth said.
More information
Find out much more about diabetes at the American Diabetes Association (www.diabetes.org ).
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