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Undiagnosed diabetes and the risk to cardiovascular health

On Behalf of | Nov 7, 2016 | Failure To Diagnose |

Living with a disease like diabetes is very difficult for those who have it, and it can also cause strain on their families. The benefit of a diagnosis is that it the disease then be treated and managed. If diabetes is not diagnosed, it can lead to a number of serious illnesses and become life-threatening.

There are some signs of diabetes that should be recognized by doctors, like problems with slurred speech or unusual blood sugar readings. Some entering into ketoacidosis smell of alcohol or fermenting juice. Although there are many signs, some doctors still misdiagnose or fail to diagnose diabetes, putting a patient at risk of further complications.

Heart attacks are actually associated with undiagnosed diabetes in around 10 percent of people. Researchers at the American Heart Association looked into the health records of 24 hospitals in the United States who had 2,850 for heart attack patients. The link between these patients is that they didn’t know that they had diabetes. It was only discovered that the patients were suffering from diabetes when their A1C levels were tested. Those levels show the average sugar reading over the last two to three months.

In the U.S., 25.8 million people suffer with diabetes and another 70 million are believed to be living undiagnosed, so it’s perhaps not surprising that some people suffer from significant injuries from the disease. The American Heart Association reports that two out of three people with diabetes die from cardiovascular problems.

The failure to recognize diabetes can lead to death. Sugar levels can cause a number of side effects ranging from mood swings to ketoacidosis. It’s now known that if diabetes can be recognized during or after a heart attack, the patient gets into a position to receive the right care to prevent another complication. By helping the patient lose weight, have a better diet, take medications and change different lifestyle factors, the risk of additional cardiovascular complications is reduced.

Failing to take the steps to identify diabetes puts patients at risk, and if the patient passes away, it’s possible that medical malpractice or negligence could be claimed against the medical team.

Source: Medical Daily, “Diabetes May Cause Heart Attacks When Doctors Fail To Diagnosis The Disease,” Samantha Olson, accessed Nov. 07, 2016

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