AUSTIN (KXAN) — More than 100,000,000 adults in the United States live with diabetes and for those people, the chances of developing heart disease or suffering a heart attack are high.
Family Medicine Physician Dr. Cesar Gerez-Martinez joins KXAN’s Brittany Glas to talk about how managing diabetes can help reduce those risks. The doctor suggests that it is first of all important to understand the risk factors for having diabetes. He says being overweight, not being physically active, having a family member with Type 2 diabetes and belonging to certain ethnic groups could all put you at greater risk for diabetes.
The doctor says often times, developing diabetes will affect other areas of your health. At it’s worse it can cause heart attacks, stroke, blindness, kidney failure and even amputation of the legs.
While doctors have well developed methods to diagnose heart disease in someone with diabetes, it is very important for diabetes patients to manage their risks and manage their diabetes.