Two new studies presented at the annual meeting of the European Association for the Study of Diabetes in Stockholm show that women with diabetes are up to 40 per cent more likely to develop cardiovascular complications than men.

In the first study, Italian researchers pooled data from Tuscan hospitals between 2005 and 2012, the region’s general population registry of 3,192,203 inhabitants aged more than 16 years, and the area’s registry of people with diabetes. After adjusting for age and compared to people without diabetes, diabetic women were 34 per cent more likely than men with diabetes to be hospitalised for acute myocardial infarction (AMI). The greatest difference between women and men emerged between 45 and 54 years of age (OR 5.83 and 2.88 respectively).

Overall, the increased risks were similar in women and men with diabetes for hospitalisation for ischaemic stroke (odds ratio [OR] 2.10 and 2.13 respectively) and congestive heart failure (OR 2.63 and 2.55). The greatest difference emerged between 55 and 64 years of age for ischaemic stroke (OR 4.14 and 3.04) and congestive heart failure (OR 6.83 and 4.11).

The second study, a metaanalysis of 19 studies involving almost 10.9m individuals by Chinese researchers, found that fatal and non-fatal acute coronary syndrome (including AMI and unstable angina) was 2.46 and 1.68 times commoner in women and men with diabetes than controls, with women with diabetes 38 per cent more likely to develop acute coronary syndrome than men.