Early manifestation of macrovasculopathy in newly diagnosed never treated type II diabetic patients with no traditional CVD risk factors

Type II diabetes patients have increased risk of macrovascular complications compared with the general population. Arterial stiffness is considered as an independent predictor of macrovascular events. This study investigated arterial stiffness in newly diagnosed never treated diabetes and impaired glucose tolerance (IGT) patients without any traditional cardiovascular diseases (CVD) risk factors. After preliminary screening of 1620 individuals, 30 diabetic and 30 IGT patients were recruited and compared with age- and sex-matched 30 normoglycaemic subjects. The subjects were newly diagnosed, never treated, normotensive, non-obese, non-hyperlipidaemic and non-smoker. Haemodynamic variables, pulse wave velocity (PWV) and augmentation index (AI) were measured. The PWV was significantly higher in diabetic patients (10.37 +/- 2.64 m/s vs. 8.70 +/- 1.29 m/s; p = 0.035) and was of borderline significant in IGT subjects (9.54 +/- 1.56 m/s vs.8.70 +/- 1.29 m/s, p = 0.078) compared to normoglycaemic individuals. Augmentation index was higher of borderline significant in diabetic (134.53 +/- 17.32% vs. 129.17 +/- 11.18%, p = 0.055) and IGT patients (132.02 +/- 16.11% vs. 129.17 +/- 11.18%, p = 0.059) compared to normoglycaemic individuals. The study demonstrated that newly diagnosed never treated diabetic patients without any CV complications had early manifestation of macrovascular diseases as evident by increased arterial stiffness. The findings also revealed early manifestations of preclinical vasculopathy and potentially increased risk for development of macrovascular diseases at an early age in diabetic patients. (C) 2007 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.