Lifestyle with diabetes: the first year counts

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MunichA healthy lifestyle is particularly important for diabetics. The sooner those affected pay attention to their health after the diagnosis, the lower their risk of heart attack, stroke and high blood pressure. This is what British researchers report in a recent study.

Targeting the lifestyle of 867 diabetics

As part of the research, a team of researchers led by Grainne Long from Cambridge University recruited 867 patients between the ages of 40 and 69 years. Type 2 diabetes was diagnosed in all of them between 2002 and 2006. The scientists wanted to find out how a positive lifestyle in the first year after diagnosis affects the cardiovascular health of diabetic patients. To do this, they recorded data on the weight and height of the test subjects as well as their blood pressure, blood sugar and blood lipid values ​​both at the beginning of the study and one year later. In addition, the participants filled out questionnaires about their lifestyle: Among other things, they provided information on their alcohol consumption, whether they smoked, what was their diet and how much they moved.

Precise changes

Researchers mapped the changes in health behavior using a point scale. An example: Patients who drank no alcohol or less alcohol than before one year after the start of the study received one point for the positive change. Anyone who did not reduce their alcohol consumption received zero points. Overall, the scale ranged from zero to four: In addition to low alcohol consumption, physical activity, a diet rich in fiber and vitamins and a reduced total calorie intake were also rated positively.

Around five years later, the subjects were examined again. Six percent of the patients had had a cardiovascular incident during this time. It showed that the risk of this was closely related to the number of lifestyle changes.

The better the lifestyle, the lower the risk

Those who followed three or four of the healthy lifestyles (30 percent of participants) had the lowest risk of a cardiovascular incident. In contrast to them, the risk of cardiovascular complications in the diabetics, who only changed two points positively (38 percent), was 70 percent higher. The worst performers were those who changed their lifestyle in only one (26 percent of the participants) or none at all in favor of their health. Their risk of heart attack, stroke, and high blood pressure was 400 percent higher than that of subjects who followed three or four positive lifestyle rules. "These lifestyle changes appear to benefit the elderly and younger, men and women, people of various origins, and patients on medication," explains Long.

Little alcohol and a lot of exercise are best

According to Long, the greatest positive effect was when the diabetics reduced their alcohol consumption and became more physically active. On average, the risk of complications in subjects who walked hard for one hour per day was 51 percent lower than in the more lazy participants.

"If doctors immediately support patients diagnosed with type 2 diabetes in adhering to these lifestyle rules, it will help them reduce the risk of diseases associated with diabetes," Long summarizes the results.

Diabetic Germany

Around six million people in Germany live with diabetes. Around 90 percent of them are type 2 diabetics. In addition to the genetic component, the main risk factors are obesity, an unhealthy diet and too little exercise.

Source: Long G. et al. Healthy Behavior Change and Cardiovascular Outcomes in Newly Diagnosed Type 2 Diabetes Patients: A Cohort Analysis of The ADDITION-Cambridge Study. American Diabetes Association.

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