ABSTRACT
Diabetes is now estimated to affect 246 million people worldwide, with this figure expected to rise to 380 million by the year 2025 (1). The rising numbers of people with diabetes, fuelled by an increasing prevalence of obesity, may soon start to reverse the reductions in cardiovascular disease (CVD) mortality that have resulted from improved control of risk factors (smoking, hypertension and dyslipidemia), and better treatment of acute CVD events, over recent decades.
