Here's one for the readers of TheDiabetesBlog as well as TheCardioBlog --
People who suffer from diabetes, heart disease, and depression (that's the third variable in this triumvirate of risk factors) have a 30 percent greater chance than the average person of dying, a recent Duke University study reveals. Studying 933 subjects with heart disease over a four-year period, the researchers found that 135 of the subjects who also had depression and type 2 diabetes died during the course of the study. These individuals were found to have a 30 percent higher mortality rate than people in the study who suffered from only one or two of these maladies.
According to the American Diabetes Association (ADA), people with diabetes have a higher-than-average risk of developing depression -- due in part to feelings of frustration, sadness, and isolation in dealing with their illness. Adding heart disease into the mix, so this new study tells us, appears to create a potentially life-threatening synergistic effect.
