A newly published report, the Joint British Societies’ Guidelines on Prevention of Cardiovascular Disease in Clinical Practice, sets tighter blood pressure, cholesterol and blood glucose targets for people with diabetes than ever before.
The new guidelines also recommend that all people over the age of 40 are screened for heart disease, even those who are not in high risk groups. Those who have a family history of hardened or narrowed arteries should be screened much earlier than this, it says. The report now recommends that people with diabetes aim to achieve the following:
- An optimal blood pressure target of less than 130/80 (prior to the report the target was 135/85 for people with Type 1 diabetes and 140/80 for people with Type 2 diabetes).
- An optimum total blood cholesterol target of less than 4.0 mmol/l (prior to the report the target was less than 5.0 mmol/l).
- HbA1c of 6.5% or below (until recently the target was 7%).
Zoe Harrison, care advisor at Diabetes UK, said, "Achieving these new blood pressure, glucose and cholesterol targets can significantly reduce the risk of heart attacks and strokes. The new targets might seem challenging in the short termbut achieving them could save lives. That has got to be worth the effort."
