Diabetes Mellitus

Diabetes mellitus (DM) is an important risk factor for cardiovascular disease (CVD) [1][2][3] . A meta-analysis of data from Western countries showed that the risks of coronary artery disease (CAD) and cerebral infarction due to DM after adjustment for multiple factors, including sex, age and blood pressure, are 2.0 and 2.3, respectively 4) . In Japan, the NIPPON DATA80 showed that the risk of death from CAD in patients with DM is 2.8, which is significantly higher than it is for non-DM subjects 5) . The Hisayama study showed that the risks of CAD and cerebral infarction after adjustment for multiple factors, including patient sex and age, in patients with DM are 2.6 and 3.2, respectively, both of which are higher than those of patients with normal glucose tolerance 6) . In terms of relative risk, DM is an important risk factor for CVD regardless of race. However, the absolute risk of CAD in Japanese subjects with DM is approximately 30 to 70% of the risk in Western subjects with DM 7, 8) . Although there have been few investigations in Japan, the incidence of CAD in Western patients with type 1 DM is higher 9) , especially in patients with nephropathy 10) .