EDMONTON, Alberta, June 15 (UPI) -- People with type 2 diabetes have double the risk of having a stroke, compared to non-diabetics, say Canadian researchers.
A team at the University of Alberta said "the risk of a stroke is considered high within the first five years of treatment for type 2 diabetes and more than doubles the rate of occurrence."
"What we found is that 9.1 per cent of the diabetes cohort had a stroke within the first five years of their diagnosis," said researcher Thomas Jeerakathil, assistant professor in neurology at the University of Alberta. "We also found that compared to persons from the general population of a similar age, the relative risk for stroke was much greater in younger persons with diabetes than for older persons."
The study appears in the American Heart Association's Stroke journal.
