Open AccessEffect of diabetes on stroke symptoms and mortality: Lessons from a recent large population‐based cohort study
Author(s) -
Umemura Toshitaka,
Kawamura Takahiko
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
journal of diabetes investigation
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.089
H-Index - 50
eISSN - 2040-1124
pISSN - 2040-1116
DOI - 10.1111/jdi.12105
Subject(s) - medicine , diabetes mellitus , stroke (engine) , cohort , population , cohort study , gerontology , environmental health , endocrinology , mechanical engineering , engineering
Diabetes is rapidly increasing worldwide. In 2011, approximately 366 million people had diabetes, with a prevalence of approximately 8.3%, according to a report by the International Diabetes Federation. Approximately half of the diabetic population is concentrated in Asian countries, and there has been a particularly rapid increase in China and India, where diabetes is a major public health burden. As diabetes‐related mortality rapidly increases from the age of 40 years onwards, to maintain quality of life, it is important to prevent not only microvascular complications, but also macrovascular complications from the early stage. Needless to say, it is important to prevent cardiovascular events in diabetics, and this is particularly so for Asian populations in whom the prevalence of stroke is higher than in Western populations. Many epidemiological studies have shown that diabetic patients have an approximately two to threefold higher risk of incident stroke compared with non‐diabetic subjects. Prevention of stroke will raise quality of life and promote longevity. For clinicians, an in depth knowledge of the relationship between diabetes and stroke is very important from the aspect of preventive medicine.