Heart Failure: A Serious and Common Comorbidity of Diabetes
- David S.H. Bell, MB, FACE
Abstract
In Brief
Because of the cardiotoxic triad (diabetic cardiomyopathy, hypertension, and coronary artery disease), heart failure (HF) has an increased prevalence and worse prognosis in diabetic patients. Treatment of HF is directed to glycemic control and blockade of the renin-angiotensin and sympathetic nervous system, primarily with angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors and a combined α-/β-blocker. The goal is preventing and reversing myocardial remodeling, which will improve ventricular function.
Footnotes
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David S.H. Bell, MB, FACE, is a professor of medicine at the University of Alabama at Birmingham School of Medicine in Birmingham, Ala.
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Note of disclosure: Dr. Bell is a paid consultant for, has received honoraria and research support from, and serves on the speaker’s bureau of GlaxoSmithKline, which manufactures pharmaceutical products for the treatment of heart failure.
- American Diabetes Association
