People who have had diabetes a decade or longer are three times as likely to have a stroke, new research shows.
The study, published in the American Heart Association journal Stroke, found a diabetic’s risks increase over time – a rate of 3 percent each year -- compared to people without diabetes.
"The findings emphasize the chronic nature of diabetes and the fact that it damages the blood vessels over time," said Dr. Mitchell S. V. Elkind, the study's lead author and clinical specialist at Columbia University Medical Center.
"Although stroke rates have been declining overall, the increase in diabetes incidence over the same period may lead to a higher overall stroke burden in the future," Elkind said.
For the study, researchers followed 3,298 people -- average age: 69 -- who had never had a stroke, for a period of nine years. Nearly 22 percent of participants had type 2 diabetes at the start of the study. Researchers said that compared to people without diabetes, the risk of stroke increased:
• 70 percent in people with diabetes for less than five years;
• 80 percent in people with diabetes for five to 10 years;
• Three-fold in people with diabetes for 10 years or more.