While diabetes crosses all age, racial, and gender lines, it does seem to show some questionably preferential treatment to men in the distribution of certain diabetic complications. For example, the ADA reports that men diagnosed with diabetes before age thirty tend to develop retinopathy more rapidly than their female counterparts. And among people with diabetes, first heart attacks are more likely to be fatal in men than women.

Men with type 2 diabetes are more likely to develop coronary artery disease (CAD) than their male counterparts without diabetes. They are also more likely to have additional CAD risk factors, such as high triglycerides, high blood pressure, and obesity.