The Partnership to Fight Chronic Disease (PFCD) recently hosted a health observance briefing for National Diabetes Heart Connection Day to raise awareness of the link between diabetes and cardiovascular disease.
“In the fight against chronic disease which takes far too many lives and consumes an unnecessary excess of health care dollars, we seemed to have lost sight of the power of prevention,” PFCD Chairman Ken Thorpe said in a PFCD press release. “We must do better to diagnose, treat and prevent chronic conditions like diabetes and cardiovascular diseases, and one of the first and most important actions we can take is to raise awareness among patients, providers and policymakers of the alarming co-existence of these two debilitating conditions, and what can be done to avoid them in the first place.”
Better prevention could help reduce the rates of diabetes, which affects 29.1 million people in the United States, according to the release. Of these, 8.1 million go undiagnosed. Another 86 million people have prediabetes, meaning they have a 15 percent to 30 percent chance of having diabetes in the next five years if they do not make changes, the release said. Better diagnosis and treatment could help people with diabetes and increase life expectancy.
Thirty organizations, including Boehringer Ingelheim, have given their support to the cause, the release stated.
“Boehringer Ingelheim is committed to supporting efforts to raise awareness, understanding and action towards reducing the impact of heart related complications for people with type 2 diabetes,” Dr. Thomas Seck, vice president of clinical development and medical affairs for primary care at Boehringer Ingelheim Pharmaceuticals Inc., said in the release. “Education on the link between diabetes and heart disease is crucial, because the sooner people know their risk, the sooner they can do something about it.”
