Prakt. Lékáren. 2015; 11(5e) [Med. praxi. 2015;12(1):22-26]

Cardiovascular risk in diabetics

Petr Žák, Miroslav Souček

II. interní klinika LF MU a FN u sv. Anny v Brně

Cardiovascular disease (CVD), particularly myocardial infarction and acute stroke, is the leading cause of death worldwide. According toHealth Organisation (WHO) CVD is every year responsible for some 17 millions of deaths. Diabetic women are at particularly high risk of CVD;diabetes eliminates the usual female advantage for coronary disease mortality. Mechanisms linking pre-diabetes and type 2 diabetes withCVD has been extensively reviewed. Insulin resistance and postprandial glycemia (PPG) are likely to explain a major part of enhanced atherothrombosisin diabetes type 2. Incretins, recently approved class of therapeutic agents for the treatment of type 2 diabetes, GLP-1 receptoragonists (GLP-1 RA) and dipeptidyl peptidase-4 inhibitors (DPP-4i), exert their actions through potentiation of incretin receptor signaling andrecovery “ incretin effect”. New prandial GLP-1 RA (lixisenatide) therapy is characterized with low risk of hypoglycemia and improved controlof PPG, both effects could be a mechanism linking effective treatment of type 2 diabetes and reduction of cardiovascular risk.

Keywords: CVD, gender differences in cardiovascular risk, insulin resistance, PPG, GLP-1 receptor agonists

Published: August 1, 2015  Show citation