Understand Diabetes & Cardiovascular Disease

Diabetes and cardiovascular disease often go hand-in-hand. Adults with diabetes are two to four times more likely to develop heart disease or have a stroke than people without diabetes. In fact, about 68 percent of people with diabetes die of heart disease or stroke - one more factor that makes cardiovascular disease the most common cause of death in both men and women.

In addition, people with diabetes often have a build-up of atherosclerotic plaque throughout the body. About one in three people with diabetes over the age of 50 has peripheral artery disease (PAD), which is the narrowing of blood vessels by plaque in parts of the body other than the heart, for example in the legs or the kidneys.