Diabetes and Arterial Disease

One of the factors that rapidly develop arterial disease is diabetes. Due to a chronic increase in blood glucose, the walls of the arteries degenerate very rapidly and cause circulatory complications due to lack of blood supply to the organs.

Symptoms of diabetes mellitus

In the initial stages, symptoms are not noticeable, although they can be suspected if there is thirst, tiredness, very frequent urination and unjustified weight loss. There may also be crises of dizziness, blurred vision and sweating, so if there is a family history of diabetes mellitus, blood tests should be performed to evaluate it.

Most frequent complications

Many of them are related to decreased blood flow due to injury or obstruction of the arteries. In the beginning, it is more frequent in small caliber arteries and can cause retinopathy with possible loss of vision, degeneration of the kidneys with possible renal failure and cardiovascular diseases in the heart, brain and lower limbs.

In advanced and poorly controlled cases, there may be lesions of the nerve cords of the legs and feet, easy infections, alterations in the teeth and skin degeneration with ulcers in the feet and legs, as well as degenerative lesions of the bones of the feet.

The development of diabetes in adults

The probability of developing diabetes increases with age. Under 60 years of age, it is less than 10% and between 60 and 80 years of age there is a probability of between 15 and 20%. Moreover, it is more frequent in younger men and in women over 70 years of age.

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Apart from age, there is a high correlation with genetic inheritance, excess weight and, less relevantly, diabetes also correlates with lack of mobility, diet and taking certain medications chronically.