Endocrine Abstracts

Background and aims: Intermediate hyperglycemia has been established to increase cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk. The increased platelet activity is believed to play a central role in pathogenesis of CVD. Mean platelet volume (MPV) and urinary 11-dehydro-thromboxane B₂ (11-dehydro-TxB₂) level have been validated as a reliable and non-invasive marker for platelet activity. The objective was to evaluate the association between these markers and CVD risk by Framingham risk score (FRS) in normal glucose tolerance (NGT) and intermediate hyperglycemia (IH).

Methods: We prospectively studied 2,145 adults who were 40–79 years of age and who underwent voluntary regular health check-ups at the Health Promotion Center of our hospital from July 2010 to June 2012. The subjects were divided into two groups with NGT and IH based on the HbA1c and fasting plasma glucose. Then these groups were subdivided into each three groups by the value of platelet activation markers to evaluate the relationship with CVD risk by FRS.

Results: The mean CVD 10-year risk by FRS increased significantly by increasing tertiles of MPV (T1, 5.03±4.85; T2, 5.30±5.41; T3, 6.12±6.11; P for trend=0.01) in IH, but not NGT. Although urinary 11-dehydro-TxB₂ excretion level was significantly higher in IH compared to NGT (P<0.01), the mean CVD 10-year risk by FRS did not differ between the tertiles in IH and NGT. After adjusting for risk factors associated with increasing CVD risk, upper tertile of MPV were significantly associated with CVD 10-year risk≥10% (OR 1.97 (1.34–2.89)) in IH, but not NGT.

Conclusion: MPV was positively associated with CVD risk by FRS in only IH. Therefore we propose that MPV can be a useful marker for prediction of CVD in patients with IH.