With cardiovascular disease becoming the most common cause of death in people with diabetes, interest in the assessment and treatment of heart disease in these patients has been reawakened. This book examines developing topics from a largely cardiological perspective, covering both pharmacological and non-pharmacological interventions.
The DIGAMI study on the use of intravenous insulin infusion at the time of myocardial infarction (MI) has stimulated a large number of discussion papers on the best treatment of MI in the diabetic patient. The UKPDS has shown that treatment of Type 2 diabetes does not reduce cardiovascular end-points significantly, but that aggressive treatment of blood pressure can do so. In addition, sub-group analysis from several large cardiovascular trials has shown that treatment with statins, anti-platelet therapy, ACE inhibitors and other drugs will also reduce cardiovascular events in people with diabetes.