Peer Reviewed
Perspectives

Addressing vascular risk factors in diabetes

Alicia J Jenkins, Andrzej S Januszewski, David N O’neal
Abstract
Vascular risk factors should be comprehensively assessed and treated in a person with diabetes because of the slow evolution of vascular damage before it becomes clinically evident. Individual and multiple risk-factor control have been shown to improve clinical outcomes and also to be associated with metabolic memory. The mnemonic GLOBES is proposed in this article as an aid to managing patients with diabetes.
Key Points
    • Cardiovascular disease is a common cause of morbidity and premature mortality in people with type 1 or type 2 diabetes.
    • A cardiovascular risk calculator is available online (www.cvdcheck.org.au).
    • Multiple risk factors are often present in people with diabetes.
    • A mnemonic for remembering the vascular risk factors in people with diabetes is GLOBES (or GLOBE2S2) – Glucose, Lipids, Obesity, Blood pressure, Education and Emotion, Smoking and Screening.

    Picture credit: © BSIP/Diomedia.com

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