Diabetes Australia has launched a new awareness campaign, Take Diabetes 2 Heart, after a survey showed many diabetics were unaware they were at risk from heart disease.
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“Our new campaign,” Diabetes Australia CEO Professor Greg Johnson said, “will encourage these people, and those who love them, to have a serious heart-to-heart conversation about diabetes and heart disease, and what they can do to reduce their risk.”
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More than 40,000 people with type 2 diabetes in the Hunter, New England, and Central Coast region are likely to die from heart disease.
In the Glen Innes Severn Council alone, more than 530 people have type 2 diabetes – and an estimated 340 of them will die of heart disease.
Heart disease contributes to almost two in three deaths of type 2 diabetics, and shortens the life expectancy of both men and women (8.2 years for men, and 9.1 years for women).
Diabetes Australia’s national survey revealed some worrying findings.
Only 12 per cent of type 2 diabetics think they are at risk of heart disease, and only 6 per cent thought they were at risk of a heart attack. 59 per cent of type 2 diabetics didn’t know heart disease was the number one cause of death for the group.
“The good news,” Professor Johnson said, “is that 99 per cent of people would act to reduce their risk, if they were aware of it.
“Lifestyle changes – including healthy eating and getting more physical activity – can significantly reduce someone’s risk."
Type 2 diabetics, he advised, should lose weight, be physically active, quit smoking, manage high blood pressure, and take their prescribed medication.
While the number of cardiovascular disease-related deaths in the general population had declined, this improvement had not been seen in type 2 diabetics.
They are twice as likely to die from cardiovascular disease as people without diabetics, and likely to die much earlier.
This risk is even higher in women, people who develop type 2 diabetes under the age of 40, and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders.
People with type 2 diabetes are encouraged to visit the Take Diabetes 2 Heart website and access a range of information resources about the campaign and heart health.