Heart Health May Help Prevent Diabetes, Regardless of Genetics

At age 55 years, remaining lifetime risk of diabetes in the high genetic risk group was 23.5 percent for those in ideal cardiovascular health
a heart built of puzzles
a heart built of puzzles

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TUESDAY, Oct. 5, 2021 (HealthDay News) -- Favorable cardiovascular health (CVH) is important for preventing type 2 diabetes among middle-aged individuals regardless of their genetic predisposition, according to a study published online Sept. 28 in the European Journal of Preventive Cardiology.

Kan Wang, from the Erasmus University Medical Center in Rotterdam, Netherlands, and colleagues calculated a CVH score and a genetic risk score for predisposition for diabetes among 5,993 individuals at baseline.

The researchers found that at age 55 years, the remaining lifetime risk for type 2 diabetes was 22.6 percent for ideal, 28.3 percent for intermediate, and 32.6 percent for poor CVH. The lifetime risk for type 2 diabetes was still the lowest for ideal CVH when stratifying by genetic risk score tertiles (lowest: 21.5 percent; second: 20.8 percent; highest: 23.5 percent) compared with intermediate and poor CVH.

"While genetics do contribute to the probability of developing type 2 diabetes, the findings indicate that maintaining healthy lifestyle habits, and especially having a healthy body weight, can help lower the lifetime risk of the condition," a coauthor said in a statement.

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