Individuals diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes are at double the risk of having a stroke compared to those without diabetes, according to new research from the University of Alberta. It was found that the risk of a stroke is considered high within the first five years of treatment for Type 2 diabetes and more than doubles the rate of occurrence.
Research that recently appeared in the American Heart Association’s Stroke journal used 12,272 subjects in a Type 2 diabetes cohort.? All subjects were recently diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes and had a mean age of 64 years. After five years of monitoring, stroke incidence rates were compared between the cohort and the general population.
It is more common to study stroke prevalence within 10 years after diagnosis, this is the first study to specifically examine stroke-related outcomes immediately after the diagnosis of and initiation of treatment for Type 2 diabetes.? Researchers found that 9.1% of the diabetes cohort had a stroke within the first five years of their diagnosis,” Dr. Thomas Jeerakathil, an assistant professor in neurology, at the University of Alberta. “We also found that compared to persons from the general population of a similar age, the relative risk for stroke was much greater in younger persons with diabetes than for older persons.
Researchers hope their findings dispel the notion that the risk of stroke occurs only after the long term and will motivate both the patients and health care providersnto aggressively control risk factors after diagnosis.
Newsmax.com Health Alerts
