By David Liu, PHD

Monday Aug 13, 2012 (foodconsumer.org) -- A new study in Diabetes Care suggests that type 2 diabetes mellitus patients who survive myocardial infarction are more likely than their counterparts without diabetes to die from sudden cardiac arrest or related cardiovascular events.

The study led by C.Y. Yeuong of The University of Hong Kong in Hong Kong, China and colleagues found diabetics melitus who were a survivor of myocardial infarction were twice as likely as those who were a survivor of myocardial infarction, but did not have diabetes to die from sudden cardiac events.

The study of a total of 610 consecutive post- myocardial infarction patients who had no residual myocardial ischemia was meant to examine whether being diabetic would increase risk of sudden cardiac death.  Diabetes has been associated with increased risk of cardiovascular disease in prior research.

Of all myocardial infarction survivors, 236 had type 2 diabetes mellitus at baseline.  During a mean follow-up of five years, 67 diabetes patients (28.4%) and 76 of 374 patients without diabetes (20.2%) died, meaning that diabetes patients were 75 percent more likely to die during the study, than those without diabetes.

Patients with type 2 diabetes were also 84 percent more likely to die from cardiac events and 114 percent more likely to die from sudden cardiac events, compared to non-diabetic patients.

It was also found that myocardial infarction survivors having diabetes mellitus, left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) lower than 30% and New York Heart Association functional class greater than II were 1.9, 3.6 and 4.2 times, respectively, as likely as those who had no of these conditions to die from sudden cardiac events.

Among myocardial infarction survivors with type 2 diabetes mellitus, the 5-year sudden cardiac death rate did not vary by LVEF significantly.

The researchers concluded "Post-myocardial infarction patients with diabetes mellitus, even in the absence of residual myocardial ischemia clinically, were at higher risk of sudden cardiac death compared to their non-diabetes mellitus counterparts.