Biomedical Frontiers: Fall 1997, Vol.4, No.2
Diabetes Research
Study to Probe Heart Attack Link

Source: Diabetes in America, 2nd edition, NIH, 1995.

Heart attacks are a major cause of death among people with diabetes, even in younger people. When other risk factors, such as smoking and diet, are controlled for, people with diabetes are still two to four times more likely to suffer from coronary artery disease. At CPMC, a new project funded jointly by the National Institutes of Health and the Juvenile Diabetes Foundation will examine the connection between diabetes and coronary artery disease.

As part of this grant, Dr. Henry Ginsberg, the Irving Professor of Medicine, director of the Irving Center for Clinical Research, and head of the Division of Preventive Medicine and Nutrition, will look at the effect of dietary fat on people with diabetes. The research will check the effects of a high fat meal on plasma levels of fat and triglycerides in subjects with coronary artery disease and subjects without.

"Non-insulin dependent diabetics often have high levels of triglycerides and low levels of HDL cholesterol," says Dr. Ginsberg. "Our study will attempt to identify why some people with diabetes develop coronary artery disease while others with similar levels of triglycerides and HDL cholesterol do not."

The study also will examine frozen blood samples from diabetic populations that have been studied for heart disease, such as the Strong Heart study of American Indian tribes and studies of whites, African-Americans, and Hispanics. The project should take approximately three and a half years to complete.