The etiological role of diabetes mellitus in cardiovascular disease

Abstract

A survey of a significant and representative sample of the population of Malta, carried out in 1964, revealed that the incidence of diabetes mellitus was 19.9% (I). The disease was predominantly of the late-onset type, starting after the age of 30 years in 97.1 % of the cases. The peak age-of-onset was 50 to 54 years in both sexes, Sixty percent of the diabetics (as against 44 % of nondiabetics) were obese. The clinical association of diabetes and atherosclerosis is well known and accounts for the fundamental importance of diabetes in cardiology. However, in view of the intimately associated, potentially pathogenetic factors (aging etc.), differential objective evidence is essential in order to prove the role of diabetes in the etiology of atherosclerosis. The purpose of this work was to provide this evidence from relevant facts collected during the abovementioned survey. This study was limited to "large vessel" disease.