Type 1 diabetes significantly raises the risk of heart disease and early death, but healthy habits like controlling weight, quitting smoking, and managing blood sugar can improve outcomes.
United States: Adults diagnosed with type 1 diabetes are at greater risk for heart disease and death, according to a recent study report.
Even so, adopting healthy lifestyle habits can lower the risk for these patients, as reported by researchers on May 14 in the European Heart Journal.
More about the news report
According to the senior researcher, Sofia Carlsson, a senior lecturer with the Institute of Environmental Medicine at Karolinska Institute in Sweden, “We show that the prognosis can be significantly improved by preventing smoking and obesity and improving glucose control, not least in people diagnosed at older ages,” US News reported.
When an individual has type 1 diabetes, the immune system attacks the cells in the pancreas that make insulin, preventing the body from making it.
Diabetes is like a slow poison that quietly damages the body over time. Many people don’t feel the effects right away, but the harm keeps building up😬
— Pharm. Greatman (@OGreat6) March 17, 2025
By the time they’d notice serious damage may already be done
This is how diabetes slowly destroys the body
Scroll up ⬆️ pic.twitter.com/Su9UIyjZ9W
Therefore, people who have type 1 diabetes need to inject insulin to help them survive. Before, Type 1 diabetes was known as juvenile diabetes since it often occurs in children, but according to researchers, it can affect adults, too.
In the new study, scientists followed about 10,200 Swedish adults who had type 1 diabetes from 2001 to 2020 and compared them to over 510,000 healthy individuals.
It was discovered that adults diagnosed with diabetes were at greater risk of developing heart disease and dying too soon from causes like cancer and infections.
Type 1 diabetics, according to the study, had a greater possibility of experiencing a heart attack, stroke, or another major heart illness, at a 30% higher risk than others.
Results showed they were at a 71% higher risk of death from any reason.
As per the lead researcher, Yuxia Wei, “The main reasons for the poor prognosis are smoking, overweight/obesity, and poor glucose control. We found that they were less likely to use assistive devices, such as insulin pumps,” US News reported.
Wei is currently working as a postdoctoral fellow at the Institute of Environmental Medicine at Karolinska Institute.