Diabetes poses special problems and complications for women. For example:

• Cardiovascular disease, the leading cause of death in people with diabetes, is more serious among women than men, according to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Diabetic women are more likely to die from a first heart attack than diabetic men. Peripheral vascular disease occurs nearly eight times more often in diabetic women than in nondiabetic women, according to the FDA.

• The risk of diabetic ketoacidosis, a dangerous condition that can lead to diabetic coma, is 50 percent higher for women than for men, according to the FDA. Ketoacidosis, involving severe hyperglycemia and high levels of a waste product called ketones, can result from poorly controlled diabetes.
  
  
• Women with diabetes have a shorter life expectancy than women without diabetes.
  
  
• Pregnant diabetic women are at increased risk of diabetic retinopathy and vision loss. Women in general may be at greater risk of blindness from diabetes than men.
  
  
• Diabetes increases the risk of several musculoskeletal disorders that are more common in women than men, including osteoporosis and osteoporotic fractures. Women with type 1 diabetes are seven to 12 times more likely to experience a hip fracture than women without diabetes, according to the American Diabetes Association. This increased risk is believed to result from a lower bone mineral density. Women with type 2 diabetes generally have higher bone density but have also been found in some studies to have an increased risk of fractures.
  
  
• People with type 1 diabetes face increased risk of other autoimmune diseases that are far more common in women than men, including rheumatoid arthritis, lupus, Addison's disease (adrenal insufficiency) and certain thyroid disorders including Graves’ disease and Hashimoto's thyroiditis.
  
  
• Diabetes increases the risk of endometrial (uterine) cancer and may increase the risk of cervical cancer, breast cancer and some other malignant tumors.
  
  
• Memory loss, cognitive impairment and mild forms of dementia are more common in older diabetic women, believed to be a result of an acceleration of aging on the brain caused by diabetes.
  
  
• Diabetes increases the risk of yeast infections and urinary tract infections. Diabetes may cause urinary difficulties such as overactive bladder. Diabetes increases the risk and severity of urinary incontinence (loss of bladder control) in elderly women, researchers have found.
  
  
• Birth control pills can affect glucose (blood sugar) levels and interfere with diabetes control.
  
  
• Menstruation can cause fluctuations in the glucose levels of women with diabetes.
  
  
• Menopause often hampers glycemic control in women with diabetes.
  
  
• Women may develop diabetic mastopathy, a condition in which noncancerous lumps form in one or both breasts. Women on long-term dialysis for end-stage renal disease, the leading cause of which is diabetic nephropathy, may face increased risk of breast calcifications, research has suggested
  
  
• Research suggests that diabetic women with certain conditions, including cystic fibrosis (an inherited diseased that damages the lungs and pancreas), fare worse than diabetic men and nondiabetic women with those conditions. The influence of hormones is believed to account for the disparity.