![]() Read More: High Blood Pressure and Diabetes Are Linked. “It’s probably not just one mechanism or one explanation, but several,” she says. “In people with diabetes, there are both systemic and localized increases in inflammation that, if severe enough and prolonged enough, could increase the risk of arrhythmia,” Green says.Īll of these hypotheses could turn out to be accurate. Yet another possibility is that diabetes-related inflammation may contribute to the development of an arrhythmia. Roughly two-thirds of adults with diabetes also have hypertension, and people with hypertension are almost twice as likely to develop Afib as people who do not have hypertension. Mattias Brunström, a hypertension specialist and physician researcher at Umeå University in Sweden. “Diabetes affects the blood vessels in ways that make them stiffer and that makes blood pressure rise,” says Dr. “There are things we call advanced glycation end products”-harmful compounds that arise when blood sugar combines with blood proteins or fats-“that we know can be responsible for organ damage,” she explains.Īnother hypothesis is that diabetes contributes to the development of high blood pressure (hypertension), which may cause damage to the heart in ways that result in an arrhythmia. One hypothesis is that elevated levels of blood sugar (or glucose), which is a hallmark of diabetes, causes damage to the heart that may result in arrhythmias. ![]() “But there does seem to be a cause-and-effect relationship between the two,” she says. Jennifer Green, a diabetes and metabolism specialist at Duke who, along with Piccini, has conducted research on diabetes and Afib.Ī lot more work is needed to determine exactly why people with diabetes are at increased risk for Afib. “This is an area of tremendous interest primarily because we have discovered newer classes of medications that, in addition to lowering glucose, can also reduce the risk of heart complications,” says Dr. However, the connection between the two conditions has only recently garnered serious research attention. Thanks in large part to the Framingham Heart Study, researchers recognized that smoking, high blood pressure, too little physical activity, and many other variables could raise a person’s risk for heart disease.Īlmost 30 years ago, data from the Framingham Heart Study helped reveal that people with diabetes are at increased risk for Afib. The purpose of the study is to track participants’ health and lifestyles over time in order to uncover potential risk factors for heart disease. It began in 1948 with 5,000-plus study participants-all from the town of Framingham in Massachusetts-and continues to this day. The Framingham Heart Study is one of the most famous and fruitful research efforts ever undertaken. ![]()
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