Introduction: Diabetes increases 2-3 fold the risk of cardiovascular disease in men and 4-5 fold in premenopausal women. Ischemic disease is a multifactorial disease. Risk factors can be divided into two groups. First group include: hyperglycemia, hyperlipidemia, hypertension, elevated levels of fibrinogen, homocysteine, CRP, acidum uricum, obesity, smoking, physical inactivity, and these factors can be influenced. The second group of risk factors consists of those that we can not influence, such as age, sex, length of duration of diabetes and genetic predisposition. Material and methods: Total number of patients was 150, of which 50 with type 2 diabetes lasting up to 10 years, and 50 patients with type 2 diabetes lasting over 10 years, and a group of 50 patients without diabetes, aged 45-70 years. We evaluated age, sex, type and dose of medication, chest pain , dyspnea, BMI, blood pressure, HbA1c, lipidogram, transaminase, urine analysis, ECG, and patients with ECG changes followed by ergometry, if they had no contraindication for it. Results: This study proved that patients with diabetes mellitus are at the grater risk for cardiovascular diseases compared to the group of patients without diabetes [Med Arch 2009; 63(4.000): 191-193]

diabetes, risk factors, cardiovascular disease