Being a smoker and having Diabetes increases the relative risk of total mortality and cardiovascular events by about 50%, and quitting smoking can reduce these risks, according to a new study published online August 26 in Circulation. "Smoking should be routinely evaluated and closely monitored for diabetic patients. As shown in our study, active smoking is associated with increased risks of total mortality and various cardiovascular events among diabetic patients," commented first author An Pan, PhD, of Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, China.
"Therefore, smoking cessation still remains a major target for patients who smoke," Dr. Pan added. "We also found that former smokers had substantially reduced risks compared with current smokers, although not totally returned to the risk of never smokers, suggesting that quitting smoking is beneficial…
