Diabetes may be hidden in heart patients

WARWICK , England, July 16 (UPI) -- Diabetes may be a hidden condition for some patients with coronary heart disease, University of Warwick researchers in England said.

Study leader Dr. Saverio Stranges of Warwick Medical School said his research team looked at levels of oxidative stress in the body -- a toxic effect which causes cell damage -- and found high levels of oxidative stress in people with coronary heart disease.

The researchers took blood samples to contrast oxidative stress levels in people with coronary heart disease, people with type 2 diabetes and healthy control subjects. Previous studies have shown people with type 2 diabetes and people with coronary heart disease have high levels of oxidative stress.

Stranges' team expected to produce similar results, but they found that those stress levels were low in people with coronary heart disease, but without type 2 diabetes. Further investigation showed people from this group with high levels of oxidative stress also had overt type 2 diabetes.

"The results were intriguing," Stranges said in a statement. "Our findings suggest the observed associations of increased oxidative stress in individuals with heart disease may be dependent on underlying abnormalities in glucose metabolism."