Diabetes increases the risk of cardiovascular disease two- to fourfold, and these complications develop at a younger age compared to nondiabetics. Sixty-eight percent of diabetics aged sixty-five or older will die of heart disease, and a further 16 percent will die of stroke.12 Reducing the risk of macrovascular disease is therefore of primary importance. The extent of death and disability resulting from cardiovascular diseases is many times greater than that resulting from microvascular diseases.
