Private MD News

Good cholesterol may lead to heart problems in diabetic women

Category: Heart Health and Cholesterol

Individuals with diabetes have a significantly higher risk for developing heart disease and may benefit from cholesterol testing to determine how likely they are to develop the condition.

This could enable them to take steps that can improve their health. For example, a recent study found that lowering HDL - commonly known as good cholesterol - may actually decrease diabetic women's risk for developing heart disease.

Many treatments for individuals with poor heart health focus on raising HDL because it is thought to remove harmful build-ups of plaque from the arteries. However, Tina Costacou, the University of Pittsburg researcher who led the study, said that too much of a good thing may be harmful to diabetics.

"Although high levels of HDL are typically associated with decreased risk for cardiovascular disease, this may not be the case for women who have type 1 diabetes and HDL in the upper ranges," she said.

Investigators were unable to determine a possible cause for the seemingly counterintuitive relationship, but said that more research would be done on the matter to discover what the connection may be.