ABSTRACT
Diabetes mellitus is a commonly encountered condition that affects more than 16 million Americans who consume one of every four Medicare dollars and strongly increases their risk of coronary artery disease, myocardial infarction, and cardiac death. It has been estimated that over 50% of adult diabetics have significant coronary atherosclerotic disease (CAD), approximately 10 times the prevalence in the general population, and it is clear that in those afflicted, coronary disease progression is more rapid than in nondiabetics (1). About 80% of diabetics die of atherosclerotic causes, and although cardiac mortality has been decreasing in the general population in recent years, diabetic men and women have not enjoyed this decrease in cardiac mortality (1-3).
