Patients with type 2 diabetes at risk of developing heart problems

A new study has found that people having type 2 diabetes are at a risk of developing heart problems as early as in their adolescence.

“Past studies in adults with Type 2 diabetes show that their heart and blood vessels' ability to adapt to exercise may be impaired. Our study shows that these changes in heart function may begin to happen very early after Type 2 diabetes occurs," said Teresa Pinto, a pediatric endocrinologist at the Dalhousie University IWK Health Centre in Halifax, Canada.

A team of researchers led by Pinto analysed teenagers in the age group of 12 to 20.

They studied how the heart and blood vessels of 13 teenagers with Type 2 diabetes adapted to exercise, compared with 27 overweight or obese subjects who did not have diabetes and 19 non-diabetic and non-obese control subjects.

All subjects were made to perform an exercise test on a stationary bicycle designed for use in a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) machine.

The images of the heart showed that the hearts of subjects with Type 2 diabetes did not expand and fill up with blood between heartbeats as well as the hearts of subjects in the other two groups.

"We showed that the heart's pumping function is strong, but it is not filling as well as normal between heart beats. This is known as diastolic dysfunction," said Pinto.

"Although this study did not determine the reason for this, we know that with diabetes, the heart can become stiffer, limiting its ability to stretch and expand," he added.

The study will be presented at The Endocrine Society's 93rd Annual Meeting in Boston.