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Rebecca Voelker

JAMA. 1999;282:1511.

	Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text and any section headings.

Type 2 diabetes mellitus is as great a risk factor for heart disease and stroke as cigarette smoking, hypertension, elevated cholesterol level, obesity, and lack of exercise, according to the American Heart Association (AHA).

The AHA added type 2 diabetes to its list of major modifiable risk factors for heart disease and stroke, because more people will become susceptible as the population ages in coming years. Type 2 diabetes currently accounts for up to 95% of the 10.3 million Americans who have diabetes. Another 5.4 million have undiagnosed type 2 diabetes.

Type 2 diabetes goes beyond being a single risk factor, noted Scott Grundy, MD, PhD, lead author of the AHA statement and director of the Center for Human Nutrition at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical School. "It is usually accompanied by other risk factors, such as elevated levels of low-density lipoprotein cholesterol, low levels of high-density . . . [Full Text of this Article]