New Delhi. People who are both obese and have diabetes are highly likely to develop heart disease during their lifetime, said Dr K K Aggarwal, President, Heart Care Foundation of India.

In a study published in the Journal Diabetes Care, it has been shown that women who are obese and diabetic have 80% and men 90% chance of developing heart disease at some point. In the study, lifetime risk was based on the likelihood that a 50–year–old would develop heart disease in the next 30 years.

Obesity and diabetes commonly go hand–in–hand. Diabetes on its own significantly raises the lifetime risk of heart disease, and that obesity worsens the situation. The lifetime heart disease risk of normal-weight women who do not have diabetes is 34 percent. The risk for normal-weight women with diabetes is 55 percent.

Among obese women, those who do not have diabetes, there is 47 percent chance of developing heart disease, while the risk for those with diabetes is 79 percent. The pattern is similar for men, with a lifetime heart disease risk of 49 percent among normal–weight, non–diabetic men, and a 77 percent risk for normal–weight men with diabetes. Obese men without diabetes have 67 percent lifetime heart disease risk, while the risk for obese diabetic men is 87 percent.