Double heart trouble: type 2 diabetes warning for Aussies
AUSTRALIANS with type 2 diabetes are twice as likely to suffer sudden cardiac death than the rest of the population, a grim new report has found.
The 1.5 million Australians now living with type 2 diabetes are also wiping almost a decade from their lives – life expectancy dropping 8.2 years for men and 9.1 years for women with the lifestyle-related disease.
As the obesity epidemic means more than 80,000 Australians younger than 40 are now living with type 2 diabetes, a national snapshot by the Baker Heart and Diabetes Institute adds to the calls for greater government interventions such as a sugar tax or fresh food pricing relief.
Report author Prof Jonathon Shaw said little had been done to cut the risk of cardiovascular disease, which was responsible for one in three deaths in people with type 2 diabetes.
Released on Tuesday, The Dark Heart of Type 2 Diabetes report reveals diabetics are much more prone to heart failure and twice as likely to drop dead from sudden cardiac death.