People with early signs of diabetes could reduce their risk of death by 26 percent if they delay full diagnosis of the disease by four years, research shows

Research has shown that delaying diabetes by just four years can reduce the risk of a heart attack by more than a third.

Around one in nine adults in the UK have prediabetes, which means they have higher than normal blood sugar levels and are at increased risk of developing type 2 diabetes.

Researchers have found that they can reduce the risk of death and cardiovascular disease in the long term by following diet and exercise alone.

A team from the China-Japan Friendship Hospital analyzed data previously collected from 540 people with prediabetes.

Participants were assigned to a control group or to one of three lifestyle interventions, which consisted of following a healthy diet, exercising more, or both.

A study has found that delaying the onset of diabetes by just four years can reduce the risk of a heart attack by more than a third

Nearly 4.3 million people were living with diabetes in 2021/22. And another 850,000 people have diabetes and are completely unaware of it, which is worrying because untreated type 2 diabetes can lead to complications including heart disease and stroke.

The participants were followed for more than 30 years.

Analysis found that people who did not have diabetes for at least four years after their first diagnosis of prediabetes had a significantly lower risk of death and heart attack or stroke than people who developed diabetes earlier.

These people were 26 percent less likely to die and 37 percent less likely to have a heart attack or stroke, compared with people who developed diabetes within four years.

Overall, the results suggest that the longer a prediabetic can delay the development of diabetes, the better their long-term health outcomes will be, the researchers said.

But even if you have been prediabetic for only a few years, you can reap benefits for years to come.

Writing in the journal Plos Medicine, they said: ‘Our analyses showed that people who had been free of diabetes for at least four years after being diagnosed with impaired glucose tolerance had a significantly lower risk of all-cause mortality, cardiovascular events, and microvascular complications, compared with people who developed diabetes.

‘However, this effect was not observed in individuals who had not had diabetes for a shorter period of time.’

They added that effective interventions targeting people with prediabetes should be considered as part of preventive management for diabetes.

Previous research has shown repeatedly that in some people with prediabetes, a combination of lifestyle changes, including diet, exercise and sustained weight loss, can be effective in reducing the risk of type 2 diabetes.