(Ivanhoe Newswire) -- Type 2 diabetes is a known risk factor for
cardiovascular disease. It increases a person’s risk of having a major cardiac
event in their lifetime by two to four times compared to people without
diabetes. Now researchers believe patients with type 2 diabetes along with a
genetic variation have an increased risk for coronary artery disease (CAD).
Genetic variation on chromosome 9p21 has been associated with an increased risk
of CAD. Now, researchers at the Joslin Diabetes Center at Harvard Medical School
in Boston have found an even greater risk of CAD in patients with this genetic
variation who also have type 2 diabetes with poor glycemic control.
The researchers conducted two studies, the first included 734 type 2 diabetes
patients and the second included 475 type 2 diabetes patients. Participants in
both studies were tested for a gene variation of chromosome 9p21 and
characterized by their long-term glycemic control. Analysis showed the odds of
developing CAD among participants with a 9p21 gene variant alone increased
2-fold, compared to patients with neither a 9p21 gene variant nor poor glycemic
control caused by type 2 diabetes. The odds of developing CAD among participants
with the 9p21 gene variant and poor glycemic control increased 4-fold.
A similar interaction between a 9p21 gene variant and poor glycemic control was
observed with respect to the rate of death after 10 years.
SOURCE: The Journal of the American Medical Association, 2008;300:2389-2397
