Epidemiologists at the School of Public Health and Health Professions have exposed groundbreaking research that can expose the presence of diabetes in women years before the disease is even diagnosed.
The study involved 1,455 participants from Western New York who were under investigation for patterns of alcohol consumption and cardiovascular disease between 1996 and 2001.
Researchers found that risk factors for diabetes such as chronic inflammation, endothelial dysfunction and blood-clotting factors are present earlier than previously thought. The study differed from most because it found that women, unlike men, eventually progress from being in normal condition to a pre-diabetic condition.
"This is one of the first reports to show that otherwise healthy women are more likely than men to show elevated levels and other markers of progression to pre-diabetes," said Richard Donahue, Ph. D., professor of social and preventative medicine in a press release.
Pre-diabetes is diagnosed when blood sugar levels are higher than normal, but not high enough to indicate full-blown diabetes. The markers did not indicate a progression from normal to pre-diabetic status in men.
"Because these pre-diabetic markers are not routinely assessed, and because diabetes is strongly linked with coronary heart disease, the study may also explain the decline in death rates for heart disease in diabetic women lags behind that of diabetic men," Donahue said.
According to a press release, previous research showed that hypertension and cholesterol were elevated among women who later developed diabetes.
"However, current findings that these novel risk factors are elevated among women even earlier than previously recognized does suggest that the diabetes clock starts ticking sooner for women then men," Donahue said.
In the study, all the participants were free of pre-diabetes, type two diabetes, and known cardiovascular disease before the study began. Each participant received a physical examination when they first began and then six years later when they participated in a follow-up appointment.
During each appointment, standard measures were taken, along with blood samples to determine the concentration of fasting glucose and insulin. After the six-year period, 52 women and 39 men had progressed from normal blood glucose levels to pre-diabetic status.
"What explains the sex difference remains to be determined," Donahue said.
He also suggested that women whose blood glucose increases over time should be screened more intensively for cardiovascular disease. He will continue to study more on the actual findings and hopes to draw more conclusions in the future.
The findings were announced and published in the February issue of Diabetes Care.
The study and research was supported through a grant from the National Institute of Health. Aiding in Donahue findings were professors from the UB Department of Social and Preventative Medicine.
Photo: Courtesy of Laron Fomby
