Differences in cardiovascular morbidity and mortality between previously known and newly diagnosed adult diabetics.

498 diabetics were discovered in a survey of ischaemic heart disease in 10,059 men aged 40 years and over in Israel. -The diabetics were divided into previously known and newly diagnosed. -During a 5 year follow-up period, the incidence rates of fatal and non-fatal myocardial infarction and the incidence of intermittent claudication were considerably greater in both groups of diabetics than in non-diabetics. The frequency of hypertension and left ventricular hypertrophy was about the same in both groups, and in non-diabetics. -However, the pattern of increased morbidity for angina pectoris and the increased rate of sudden death is seen only in the previously diagnosed diabetics. Different pathological mechanisms might be responsible for angina pectoris and sudden death, as compared to myocardial infarction and these might be related in diabetics to the duration and severity of the disease.