World diabetes day: Protect the heart from clutches of diabetes

Over 90% of patients with type 2 diabetes have high chances of heart disease. This is because high blood sugar due to diabetes, can affect blood vessels and nerves of the heart. If uncontrolled, this can lead to even fatal heart problems. Diabetes may also lead to weak blood circulation to different parts of the body.

It is seen that in people suffering from diabetes, the linings of the blood vessels become thicker which makes it difficult for the blood to flow through them properly. Due to the disruption in blood flow, heart attack or stroke occurs. People suffering from diabetes may also have heart failure. Heart failure is a condition when heart cannot pump blood well enough. This leads to fluid retention in certain body parts like swelling up of legs, and fluid accumulation in the lungs, making it difficult to breathe. Most of the times minor heart problems do not emit early symptoms, but some common symptoms associated with heart diseases are shortness of breath, chest pain, nausea, too much sweating, dizziness, etc.
According to Dr. Anjan Siotia, Director of Cardiology, BM Birla Heart Research Centre, Kolkata, “Diabetes does mostly two things in the body- firstly, high blood sugar level leads to more artery blockages and secondly, patients with diabetes usually have high bad cholesterol value. It is important to keep LDL (low-density lipoprotein) or bad cholesterol below 2.6mmol/L. We recommend patients with diabetes and heart diseases to regular walk and exercise and maintain strict healthy diet prescribed by doctor. Usually there is a spike in cardiovascular disease cases in winter, in people having high blood pressure, obesity, diabetes, etc. Cold temperatures lead to shrinking of arteries which lead to higher cortisol levels. This instigates the heart to pump more blood to keep the body warm. This further deteriorates in patients having diabetes type 2. Diabetes affects both microvasculature and microvasculature. It can affect all parts of the body causing peripheral vascular disease, blindness, kidney problem, stroke, heart attacks, etc. In order to treat a diabetic patient, we don’t just minimize the glucose level but also, we try to prescribe drugs to prevent negative outcomes of diabetes on other body parts. It is very important for diabetic patients to undergo thorough routine check-up and get all the prescribed blood tests done on time. Additionally, they should go for annual electrocardiograms, or EKGs, which is a test meant for recording electrical activity of heart and detects abnormal heart rhythms.”




Dr. Kalyan Kumar Gangopadhyay, Consultant, Diabetes & Endocrinology, CMRI, Kolkata, further added “People with diabetes are seen to be more prone to cardiovascular complications like acute coronary syndromes, heart failure, arrhythmias or stroke. Serious heart diseases can be seen in even young people below 30 years of age who already have diabetes. Diabetes can be commonly classified into two categories- type 1 and type 2. Type 1 diabetes or insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus is characterized by body’s immune system attacking the cells in pancreas, an organ which produces insulin. This leads to low or no amount of insulin. People suffering from type 2 diabetes have greater risk of heart disease. The excessive sugar presence in the blood due to diabetes, damages the blood vessels. This damage leads to subsequently to blockage of the blood supply to the organs resulting in heart attack, brain stroke or paralysis. One of the ways of knowing how the blood triggered is controlled is by checking glycated haemoglobin or HbA1c. This should be below 7% for most of the diabetes patient. At CMRI, we recommend our diabetic patients to undergo HbA1c test at least every 3-4 months to know whether their sugar is under control or not. We not only treat type -1 and type -2 diabetes but also treat pregnancy induced diabetes as well. Insulin pump therapy is a newer mode of therapy wherein a small electronic device continuously delivers insulin and patients don’t have to take the painful pricks of insulin everyday but they have to give one prick every 72 hours"

It is advised to consult a physician regularly to keep the health well-being under monitoring. With the escalation in diabetes cases among populations, there has been a significant rise in the number of heart diseases too.