Diagnosing and treating the disease early could be a very important step to prevent cardiovascular complications, a study presented at a meeting of the American Heart Association in Baltimore, says. This is especially important since two out of three people with diabetes die from heart disease.

For the study, researchers analyzed data from more than 2,800 heart attack patients who had not been diagnosed with diabetes. The investigators noticed that 10 percent of the patients were newly diagnosed with diabetes while being treated for their heart attack. Doctors failed to recognize diabetes in 69 percent of the previously undiagnosed patients, according to the study. Doctors were more than 17 times more likely to recognize patients' diabetes if they checked patients' A1C test results during the heart attack. Six months after leaving the hospital, less than 7 percent of the patients who weren't recognized as having diabetes during their heart attack-related hospital stay had started taking medication for diabetes. For those whose diabetes was identified during their hospital stay, 71 percent had started diabetes medication.

According to the lead authors, "Diagnosing diabetes in patients who have had a heart attack is important because of the role diabetes plays in heart disease." "By recognizing and treating diabetes early, we may be able to prevent additional cardiovascular complications through diet, weight loss and lifestyle changes, in addition to taking medications. Another important reason to diagnose diabetes at the time of heart attack is that it can guide the treatments for the patient's coronary artery disease."