Why diabetics maybe twice at risk of death from heart disease

Low muscle mass is associated with a twofold risk of death from cardiovascular disease in individuals with diabetes finds a studyThe study showed that the association is independent of frailty glycaemic control and the microvascular complications retinopathy damage to the blood vessels of the retina and nephropathy kidney diseaseSarcopenia agerelated loss of muscle mass and strength was known to be associated with cardiovascular disease CVD and mortality in individuals with diabetesHowever it wasnrsquot clear to what extent the relationship was being influenced by their blood sugar control or by complications of their diabetesThe research presented at the recent Annual Meeting of the European Association for the Study of Diabetes EASD showed that people with low muscle mass were 44 per cent more likely to die of any cause during followup than those with normal muscle massThey were also twice as likely to die from CVD as those with normal muscle massFurther analysis showed that low muscle mass was linked with allcause mortality and CVD mortality irrespective of HbA1c a measure of blood sugar control and microvascular complicationsldquoOur results suggest that the increased risk of death in individuals with diabetes who have low muscle mass isnrsquot mediated or influenced by frailty poor blood sugar control or microvascular complications but due to the loss of muscle itself Dr Jae Myung Yu and Dr Shinje Moon from the Hallym University in Seoul Republic of South KoreaThey pressed the need for more research to determine just how sarcopenia increases the risk of deathMeanwhile ldquoit is important to consider body composition when treating obesity and managing weight in people with diabetesrdquo they notedFor the study they used data from the 1514 adults with diabetes older than 20 years in the USAbout 556 per cent females had low muscle mass The participants with low muscle mass had an average age of 635 years and an average diabetes duration of 145 yearsAbout 1318 participants 483 per cent female had normal muscle mass Their average age was 54 years and average diabetes duration was 104 yearsThe participants were followed up for an average of 93 years There were 413 deaths from any cause during this time 106 low muscle mass and 307 normal muscle mass About 147 of these deaths were from CVD 42 low muscle mass 105 normal muscle massThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever