people with type 1 diabetes were much more likely to have serious heart problems.
Still, study co-leader Araz Rawshani, a researcher at the University of Gothenburg, in Sweden, stressed that “although the relative risk of cardiovascular disease is increased after an early diabetes diagnosis, the absolute risk is low.”
Compared with the control group, patients diagnosed with diabetes before age 10 had a 30 times greater risk of serious heart problems. Risk levels were about six times higher for people whose type 1 diabetes was diagnosed between ages 26 and 30.
People with younger-onset diabetes were also four times more likely to die early from any cause, and their risk of dying from heart disease was more than seven times higher than the control group. Those diagnosed between ages 26 and 30 had triple the risk of early death from heart disease or other causes, the findings showed.
With roughly half of type 1 diabetics diagnosed by age 14, earlier and wider use of heart protection measures such as cholesterol-lowering statins and blood pressure-lowering drugs might be warranted, the authors suggested.
“Age at disease onset appears to be an