Leon BM, Maddox TM. Diabetes and cardiovascular disease: Epidemiology, biological mechanisms, treatment recommendations and future research. World J Diabetes 2015; 6(13): 1246-1258 [PMID: 26468341 DOI: 10.4239/wjd.v6.i13.1246]
Corresponding Author of This Article
Thomas M Maddox, MD, MSc, Cardiology 111b, VA Eastern Colorado HCS, 1055 Clermont St, Denver, CO 80220, United States. thomas.maddox@va.gov
Research Domain of This Article
Cardiac & Cardiovascular Systems
Article-Type of This Article
Review
Open-Access Policy of This Article
This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
World J Diabetes. Oct 10, 2015; 6(13): 1246-1258 Published online Oct 10, 2015. doi: 10.4239/wjd.v6.i13.1246
Diabetes and cardiovascular disease: Epidemiology, biological mechanisms, treatment recommendations and future research
Benjamin M Leon, Thomas M Maddox
Benjamin M Leon, Department of Education, University of Colorado School of Medicine, Aurora, CO 80045, United States
Thomas M Maddox, Cardiology 111b, VA Eastern Colorado HCS, Denver, CO 80220, United States
Author contributions: Leon BM and Maddox TM organized, wrote and edited the review article.
Conflict-of-interest statement: Benjamin M Leon has no conflicts of interest; Benjamin M Leon is a student at the University of Colorado School of Medicine; Thomas M Maddox has no conflicts of interest relevant to this work; the views expressed in this article do not necessarily represent those of the Department of Veterans Affairs or the United States Government.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Correspondence to: Thomas M Maddox, MD, MSc, Cardiology 111b, VA Eastern Colorado HCS, 1055 Clermont St, Denver, CO 80220, United States. thomas.maddox@va.gov
Telephone: +1-303-3932826 Fax: +1-303-3935054
Received: October 26, 2014 Peer-review started: October 26, 2015 First decision: March 6, 2015 Revised: August 2, 2015 Accepted: September 16, 2015 Article in press: September 18, 2015 Published online: October 10, 2015
Abstract
The incidence of diabetes mellitus (DM) continues to rise and has quickly become one of the most prevalent and costly chronic diseases worldwide. A close link exists between DM and cardiovascular disease (CVD), which is the most prevalent cause of morbidity and mortality in diabetic patients. Cardiovascular (CV) risk factors such as obesity, hypertension and dyslipidemia are common in patients with DM, placing them at increased risk for cardiac events. In addition, many studies have found biological mechanisms associated with DM that independently increase the risk of CVD in diabetic patients. Therefore, targeting CV risk factors in patients with DM is critical to minimize the long-term CV complications of the disease. This paper summarizes the relationship between diabetes and CVD, examines possible mechanisms of disease progression, discusses current treatment recommendations, and outlines future research directions.
Core tip: The link between diabetes and cardiovascular disease (CVD) is summarized and discussed in detail with a focus on growing prevalence, mechanisms of disease progression and current treatment of CVD in diabetic patients. Directions of future research are also examined.
