One third of type 2 diabetes patients may have undetected heart disease

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First, let’s start with understanding Type 2 diabetes. It’s a disease where your body doesn’t use sugar, also known as glucose, properly.

When you eat food, your body changes it into glucose for your cells to use for energy.

But with Type 2 diabetes, your body doesn’t respond to insulin, which is a hormone that helps your cells to use glucose. This causes sugar to build up in your blood.

The Problem

In a recent study, researchers discovered something quite surprising. They found that one in three kids with Type 2 diabetes might also have heart problems without even knowing it!

The scientists looked at certain substances, or biomarkers, in the blood. These biomarkers are like tiny warning signs that something might be wrong with the heart.

The Heart and its Biomarkers

The heart is a very important organ that pumps blood throughout your body. Sometimes, the heart can get sick or damaged, and this is called heart disease.

The two biomarkers used in this study, high-sensitivity cardiac troponin T and N-terminal pro-B-type natriuretic peptide, are like clues to the doctors that the heart might be in trouble.

Usually, doctors use these biomarkers to tell if a person has had a heart attack or is dealing with heart failure.

However, the researchers found out that even slightly higher levels of these biomarkers can hint at early damage to the heart.

The Study

So, the scientists wanted to find out if kids with Type 2 diabetes had these biomarkers in their blood.

They checked the health records and blood samples of more than 10,000 kids from a large study called the U.S. National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. All these kids had never been told they had heart disease before.

The Shocking Results

Here’s what the researchers found out: About one-third (or 33.4%) of the kids with Type 2 diabetes had higher levels of these biomarkers compared to only 16.1% of kids without diabetes.

This suggested that many kids with Type 2 diabetes could be walking around with heart problems without even realizing it!

Also, they discovered that if these biomarkers were higher in the blood of kids with Type 2 diabetes, their chances of dying from any cause or specifically from a heart-related problem were also higher.

This was true even after considering other factors that can increase the risk of heart disease.

The Connection Between Diabetes and Heart Disease

Now, here’s something to think about. Doctors usually focus on controlling cholesterol, a type of fat in the blood, to lower heart disease risk in kids with Type 2 diabetes.

However, this study hints that Type 2 diabetes might be damaging the heart in a different way that’s not related to cholesterol.

So, therapies that just focus on lowering cholesterol might not be enough to protect the heart in kids with Type 2 diabetes.

Conclusion: What’s Next?

Even though this study has made a new discovery, more work needs to be done. It’s just the beginning!

Scientists think that checking for these biomarkers should be a regular part of healthcare for kids with Type 2 diabetes.

This way, doctors can catch and treat heart problems early. After all, it’s always better to solve a problem sooner rather than later.

We also need more studies to check if the routine measurement of these biomarkers can reduce heart-related problems in kids with Type 2 diabetes.

But for now, we’ve taken a big step forward in understanding how Type 2 diabetes can affect the heart in kids. And with more research, we can make even bigger strides in helping them live healthier lives!

If you care about diabetes, please read studies about what you need to know about diabetes drug metformin, and people with diabetes should consider taking this vitamin.

For more information about health, please see recent studies about natural coconut sugar that could help reduce blood pressure and artery stiffness, and anti-inflammatory diet could help prevent fatty liver disease.

The study was published in the Journal of the American Heart Association.

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