GPs told to focus on cardiovascular health in diabetes

The cardiovascular health of patients with diabetes should be focused on by GPs, according to the latest National Diabetes Audit (NDA) report.
The NDA report, released on 29 January 2015, revealed that diabetic patients are twice as likely to be admitted to hospital for heart failure and other cardiac problems.
It was also found that one in five people admitted to hospital for a heart attack, stroke, angina or heart failure have diabetes.
Preventable deaths
24,000 premature deaths in England and Wales in 2013 have been attributed to diabetes by estimates in the report, which could have been all been prevented.
The report believes that poorly controlled diabetes across blood testing, blood pressure and cholesterol across a long period could be attributed to these deaths.
A systematic review of thorough checks for exercise, weight and blood pressure has been called for by the NDA to enhance the prevention, detection and treatment of cardiovascular complications in diabetics.
Patients with type 1 diabetes were found to be 131 per cent more likely to die in 2013, compared to those without type 1, while type 2 diabetics were 32 per cent more likely to die.
“The findings show that high complication rates for patients with diabetes lead to increased hospital admissions and also increase mortality,” said Dr Bob Young, clinical lead for the NDA.
“If we can prevent these complications from occurring then this would have a huge impact on the number of hospital admissions across the NHS.”