How diabetes affects your heart

Diabetes and cardiovascular disease go hand in hand. Blood sugar levels that are too high can cause damage to both major and small blood vessels throughout the body. When blood arteries are unhealthy, oxygen in the blood has a much harder time getting where it needs to go. However, according to physicians, high blood sugar levels are not the only cause of cardiovascular problems.

Around 90 percent of diabetics share significant risk factors for cardiovascular disease, such as high blood pressure, abnormal cholesterol levels, and obesity. Smoking and a lack of physical activity are two more factors that can lead to cardiovascular disease.

It’s this combination of additional risk factors with diabetes that leads to all forms of cardiovascular disease.

In conjunction with World Diabetes Day 2021 and in partnership with Institut Jantung Negara (IJN), we speak to Dr. Kumara Gurupparan Ganesan, Consultant Cardiologist at Institut Jantung Negara, on the topic of how diabetes affects your heart.

Dr. Kumara brings his expert lens and shares insights on:

• The key factors about diabetes
• The common symptoms that we should look out for.
• The connection between heart disease and diabetes.
• Why diabetes increase the risk of heart disease and how to reduce the risk.

Guest: Dr. Kumara Gurupparan Ganesan, Consultant Cardiologist at Institut Jantung Negara, the National Heart Institute of Malaysia

Host: Brian Fernandez

This show is in partnership with IJN.

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