Angioplasty Risk for Diabetics Seen

Diabetics were twice as likely to die in the nine years after balloon angioplasty, a common procedure used to treat blocked arteries, a new study said. About 36% of diabetics died within nine years after balloon angioplasty, a rate double that of non-diabetics, the study found. Diabetics also experienced considerably higher rates of heart attacks as well as bypass surgeries and repeat angioplasties, said David Faxon, lead author of the study in the American Heart Assn. journal, Circulation. The study looked at medical records of 281 diabetics and 1,833 non-diabetics included in the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute’s 1985-86 registry of patients who had angioplasty at 16 participating medical centers.