Oh, dear! Diabetes. I'm sorry to learn that. Hadn't heard that anyplace. That alone is a huge risk factor.

My mom has just been diagnosed with type II diabetes and is being completely non-compliant dietarily. She already has high blood pressure, congestive heart failure, emphysema, a family history of stroke, and a 35-year history with cigarettes, which she quit 15 years ago. It's not a great new diagnosis to combine with those others. I heard Dave giving her his standard spiel two weekends ago about how "A diagnosis of diabetes alone automatically puts patients into the same risk category for heart disease/heart attack as people who've had at least one previous heart attack." She's the reason I go a little overboard in the opposite direction about watching my weight and fitness level. Don't want to look into the future 25 years from now and be faced with the same situation.

Sorry. Didn't mean to go off on a personal tangent. Thanks for the info about the diabetes. Guess that explains why Tim Russert was at elevated risk for heart disease, though.