A medicine that is often used to treat high blood pressure and heart disease has been found to lower the death rate among people with diabetes, even if they do not have cardiovascular disease. (Cardiovascular disease means disease that is related to the heart or blood vessels.)
When the medicines, called ACE inhibitors, were given to a wide range of people recently diagnosed with diabetes, the overall death rate for this group was cut in half. Also, the risk of death from cardiovascular disease was lowered by 23 percent. None of these people had any signs of cardiovascular disease when the study began.
The study was done over a period of five years by researchers at the University of Alberta in Canada and published in the June issue of Diabetes Care. The subjects in the study were 18 years or older when the study began. The average age was 60.
ACE inhibitors make blood vessels relax, allowing more blood and oxygen to get to the heart. They do this by blocking a certain enzyme that hardens blood vessels. Researchers also believe that blocking this enzyme may help to prevent cardiovascular disease.
“By delaying the development of cardiovascular disease, people with type 2 diabetes may live longer,” said lead researcher Dr. Jeffrey A. Johnson, Associate Professor and Canada Research Chair in Diabetes Health Outcomes, of the Department of Public Health Sciences, University of Alberta, in Canada.
Cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death for people who have diabetes. These people have twice as great a risk of dying from heart disease as people who don't have diabetes.
