ABSTRACT
Diabetes mellitus is one of the leading public health problems worldwide and has a profound adverse effect on the cardiovascular system. Since the discovery of insulin therapy, death caused by diabetes mellitus (DM) has diminished considerably as a result of reduction in mortality and morbidity from diabetic ketoacidosis and infections. This has led to coronary artery disease (CAD) assuming a disproportionately larger responsibility for the morbidity and mortality experienced by diabetic patients. Diabetic patients suffer not only from an excess of CAD; they are also afflicted by diabetic cardiomyopathy and autonomic neuropathy. The diffuse involvement and aggressive progression of CAD in diabetics clearly separates them from the nondiabetic population and establishes diabetics as a high-risk group.
