Psychosocial Burden Higher in Women with Diabetes, ACS

Women with diabetes had more negative psychosocial factors that increased their risk for acute coronary syndrome compared with men with and without diabetes and women without diabetes, according to the findings of a recent study.

The study included 939 participants enrolled in the GENESIS-PREXY cohort study, which included 287 women (14.3% with diabetes) and 652 men (10.4% with diabetes). The prevalence of traditional and non-traditional factors was assessed by sex and type 2 diabetes status, and a case-only analysis was used to investigate the influence of these factors on the interaction of sex and diabetes.
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Compared with individuals without diabetes, women and men with diabetes had more traditional cardiac risk factors. Women with diabetes were more likely to be the primary earner and to have more anxiety compared with women without diabetes. In addition, women with diabetes reported worse perceived health compared with women without diabetes and men with diabetes.

“We observed trends toward a more adverse psychosocial profile among women with diabetes and incident acute coronary syndrome compared with women without diabetes and men with diabetes, which may explain the increased risk of acute coronary syndrome in women with diabetes and may also contribute to worse outcomes,” the researchers concluded.

—Melissa Weiss

Reference:

Peters, T. M., Pelletier, R., Behlouli, H., Rossi, A. M. and Pilote, L. Excess psychosocial burden in women with diabetes and premature acute coronary syndrome [published online August 11, 2017]. Diabet Med. doi:10.1111/dme.13452.