A new study of approximately 11 million patients shows that Women with diabetes have around a 40% increased risk of suffering a heart attack compared with diabetic men.

This was a systematic review and meta-analysis of 19 studies containing almost 11 million patients shows that diabetic women are around 40% more likely to suffer acute coronary syndromes (heart attack or angina) than diabetic men. The study is by Dr Xue Dong, the Affiliated ZhongDa Hospital of Southeast University, Nanjing, China, and colleagues, and is presented at this year’s annual meeting of the European Association for the Study of Diabetes (EASD) in Stockholm.

In this Study the researchers estimated the relative risk for acute coronary syndrome–a strong risk factor of diabetes–associated in both men and women; this consisted of a total of 9 case control and 10 cohort studies included, with data for 10,856,279 individuals and at least 106,703 fatal and non-fatal acute coronary syndrome events.

Dr Giuseppe Seghieri, from the regional health agency in Florence, led the research on more than three million people and found an increased risk for women of all three conditions, but particularly heart attack.The authors concluded: “With respect to (heart attack), diabetic women are more disadvantaged, compared to diabetic men, with a gender driven ‘risk window’ for women which mostly opens around menopausal age (45 years onwards).

Dr Xue Dong, from the Zhongda Hospital of Southeast University, Nanjing, China, led the study.He and his colleagues concluded that “Women with diabetes have a roughly 40% greater excess risk of acute coronary syndrome (heart attack and angina), compared with men with diabetes.”