MedWire News: Women with Type 2 diabetes and heart disease are less likely to receive cholesterol-lowering treatment than men with these conditions, researchers have found.

"Our study shows that in patients with diabetes there is a clear disparity between men and women in the control and treatment of important modifiable risk factors for cardiovascular disease," said lead researcher Dr Ioanna Gouni-Berthold from the University of Cologne in Germany.

Dr Gouni-Berthold and team studied data on nearly 45,000 outpatients with Type 2 diabetes who were treated by private-practice doctors between 2002 and 2003. Of these patients, 9521 men and 8050 women had cardiovascular disease.

Among the patients with heart disease, women were 44% more likely than men to have high levels of "bad" cholesterol, yet were 15% less likely to receive cholesterol-lowering medications.

Diabetic women with cardiovascular disease were also 19% more likely to have uncontrolled high blood pressure and 15% more likely to have poor long-term control of their blood sugar levels than their male counterparts.

"Women have worse control of their blood pressure, blood sugar and cholesterol levels compared to men and are given cholesterol-lowering medications less often," summarised Dr Gouni-Berthold at the Endocrine Society's annual meeting in San Francisco, California, USA.

She added: "More aggressive treatment of cardiovascular disease in women with diabetes may improve the gender disparity in cardiovascular disease mortality.

"Patients should speak with their doctors about the intensity of treatment modalities."