A recent study suggested that individuals who develop type 1 diabetes in adulthood are at an increased risk of cardiac disease and death.
However, these patients can enhance their odds via healthy lifestyle habits, According to a research published in European Heart Journal on May 14.
Senior researcher and lecturer with the Institute of Environmental Medicine at Karolinska Institute in Sweden Sofia Carlsson, stated:
“We show that the prognosis can be significantly improved by preventing smoking and obesity and improving glucose control, not least in people diagnosed at older ages.”
What is Type 1 diabetes?
Type 1 diabetes is an autoimmune disease in which the pancreas stops making insulin due to the attack by the body's immune system on the islet cells in the pancreas that produce insulin.
The research involved 10,200 Swedish adults suffering from type 1 diabetes between 2001 and 2020, comparing them to nearly 510,000 healthy people.
Results indicated that individuals diagnosed with diabetes as adults had an increased risk of cardiac disorders, and premature death from several diseases such as cancer and infections.
Particularly, Type 1 diabetics had a 30% increased risk of serious cardiac events, the study mentioned.
Results further indicated that patients were also at a 71% increased risk of early death from any cause.
However, researchers planned to persist in researching adult-onset type 1 diabetes, such as risk factors for the disease and its adverse effects on the human body.
