Diabetes and the HOPE study: implications for macrovascular and microvascular disease.

Diabetes is a major risk factor for cardiovascular events. Indeed, people with diabetes are 2-4 times more likely to die from cardiovascular causes than individuals without diabetes. Despite evidence to suggest that the burden of cardiovascular disease may be decreasing in Western populations, this trend has not been repeated in diabetic populations. Diabetes is also the most common cause of new-onset end-stage renal disease, blindness and …