Managing diabetes: what to do about cardiovascular disease.

Type 2 diabetes increases the risk of coronary heart disease (CHD) 2-4-fold, making CHD the predominant cause of death in patients with diabetes. Currently identified risk factors include, among others, hyperglycaemia, hypertension and dyslipidaemia. Since studies show that intensive glycaemic control alone will not overcome the excess CHD risk, reducing blood pressure by any means and lipid levels by using statins and fibrates is effective in reducing CHD and associated mortality in patients with type 2 diabetes.