Assessment of carotid intima-media thickness in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus and arterial hypertension

Aim. Atherosclerosis is one of the most important complications of type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). In the present study, we aimed to assess the carotid intima-media thickness in type 2 diabetes patients with the arterial hypertension (AH) comorbidity. Materials and Methods. 96 patients with T2DM and AH (30M/66F, aged 53.4+/-5.4 years, duration of diabetes 7.7+/-7.5 years) and 30 hypertensive patients without diabetes (12M/18F, aged 53.1+/-6.0 years) were enrolled in this study. Stiffness indices for right and left common carotid arteries were assessed with noninvasive ultrasound method in both groups. Results. Difference in the intima-media thickness was statistically significant between diabetic and euglycemic patients (1.26+/-0.17 mm vs. 1.10+/-0.14 mm, respectively; p<0.01). Data from patients with diabetes duration less than 1 year was not significantly different from euglycemic controls (1.20+/-0.20 mm vs. 1.10+/-0.14 mm, respectively; p>0.05), in contrast with their counterparts with longer experience of T2DM (1.27+/-0.17 mm vs. 1.10+/-0.14 mm; p<0.05). In patients with AH and T2DM, intima-media thickness positively correlated with systolic blood pressure (r= 0.521, p<0.01), duration of diabetes (r= 0.203, p<0.05), fasting plasma glucose (r= 0.215, p<0.05) and plasma HDL (r=-0.288, p<0.05). In euglycemic patients with AH we observed a correlation between the intima-media thickness and systolic blood pressure (r= 0.284, p<0.05). Conclusion. Our data indicate that patients with AH and T2DM exhibit more profound alterations in the intima-media compared to their hypertensive but euglycemic counterparts. The increase in intima-media thickness in DM patients depends not only on the level of systolic blood pressure, but also on the duration of diabetes, on fasting plasma glucose and on plasma levels of HDL.