People with diabetes are at higher risk of atrial fibrillation

April 22, 2010 — 1:28 pm

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As the U.S. population keeps aging and gaining weight, diabetes is becoming increasingly common. Some research has associated diabetes with the most common kind of chronically irregular heartbeat, called atrial fibrillation, which can raise the risk for stroke and death. But results of past studies of diabetes and atrial fibrillation have conflicted. Now in the Journal of General Internal Medicine Dr. Sascha Dublin of Group Health Research Institute has linked diabetes to a 40 percent greater risk of developing atrial fibrillation; and she found this risk rises even higher the longer people have diabetes and the less controlled their blood sugar is.

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Severe complications of diabetes are higher in depressed patients

March 1, 2010 — 1:53 pm
Dr. Elizabeth Lin MD, MPH, Group Health Research Institute

Dr. Elizabeth Lin MD, MPH, Group Health Research Institute

Depression raises the risks of advanced and severe complications from type 2 diabetes, according to a prospective study of nearly 4,000 Group Health primary-care patients.

These complications include kidney failure or blindness, the result of small-vessel damage, as well as problems of major blood vessels leading to heart attack or stroke.

The February 2010 Diabetes Care, a scientific journal of the American Diabetes Association, published these findings. Scientists from Group Health Research Institute, the University of Washington (UW) Schools of Medicine and of Public Health, and the Veterans Affairs Puget Sound Health Care System conducted the study.

“Systematic care for both depression and diabetes, as well as regular follow-up with patients’ primary care team, are essential to help control their depression and diabetes well,” said lead author Elizabeth Lin, MD, MPH, a Group Health family physician and GHRI affiliate investigator. “When patients with diabetes also have depression, they have significantly higher risks of developing complications such as amputation, vision loss, kidney failure, heart attacks, and strokes—and even of dying five to 10 years earlier.”