women and a 3.47 times higher risk in men — meaning a 47% higher risk of heart failure for women compared to men,” she explained.
Peters noted that women with type 2 diabetes — the more common form of diabetes — had nearly twice the risk of having heart failure. Men with type 2 diabetes had a 1.74 times higher risk. That means the risk of heart failure is 9% higher for women with type 2 diabetes compared to men.
Peters is a research fellow in epidemiology at The George Institute for Global Health at the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom.
Heart failure is different than a heart attack. During a heart attack, the heart is starved of blood and oxygen, leaving part of the heart damaged. In heart failure, the heart isn’t able to pump blood efficiently, according to the American Heart Association. This means the body may not be getting enough blood and oxygen.
Although the new research wasn’t designed to tease out a definitive cause of the increased risk, the researchers suspect that under-treatment of diabetes in women may play a role. The study authors also
