About the Initiative

Cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death and a major cause of heart attacks, strokes and heart failure for people living with type 2 diabetes 1,2 – yet in a recent survey of people age 45 and older with type 2 diabetes conducted online by The Harris Poll, only half recognize their risk or have discussed their risk for heart attacks or strokes with their health care providers.3

The American Heart Association and the American Diabetes Association, along with industry leaders, have proudly launched the groundbreaking collaborative initiative Know Diabetes by Heart™ to reduce cardiovascular deaths, heart attacks and strokes in people living with type 2 diabetes.With support from founding sponsors, the Boehringer Ingelheim and Eli Lilly and Company Diabetes Alliance and Novo Nordisk, and national sponsors Sanofi, Astra Zeneca, and Bayer the Know Diabetes by Heart™ initiative seeks to comprehensively combat the national public health impact of type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease by:

  • Raising awareness and understanding of the link between diabetes and cardiovascular disease.
  • Positively empowering people to better manage their risk for cardiovascular disease, heart attacks and strokes.
  • Supporting health care providers in educating their patients living with type 2 diabetes on cardiovascular risk and increasing their patients’ engagement in prevention of cardiovascular deaths, heart attacks and strokes.

References:
1 Grau, María, et. al. Risk of Cause-Specific Death in Individuals With Diabetes: A Competing Risks Analysis; http://care.diabetesjournals.org/content/39/11/1987 Diabetes Care 2016 Nov; 39(11): 1987-1995;
2 The Emerging Risk Factors C. Diabetes mellitus, fasting blood glucose concentration, and risk of vascular disease: a collaborative meta-analysis of 102 prospective studies. Lancet. 2010;375(9733):2215-2222. https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(10)60484-9/fulltext
3 American Heart Association and American Diabetes Association. (2018). People with T2D Baseline Survey. Online survey; USA. Conducted by The Harris Poll in September 2018.