Cardiovascular diseases represent the major cause of premature death in diabetics. These patients usually die in an intensive care unit or a cardiological clinic, not in a diabetic clinic. In the acute phase of a myocardial infarct the determination of glycosylated haemoglobin is the best indicator for the diagnosis of diabetes. During the first month after the myocardial infarct the mortality among diabetics is double that of the general population. The causes of this phenomenon are multiple, some of which may be prevented. In the case of diabetics coronary insufficiency is characterised by an unquestionable clinical and prognostic specificity whereas, from the therapeutic point of view, the purely cardiological problems are identical with those found in non-diabetics.