Endocrine Abstracts

Introduction: Atherosclerotic complications are the leading causes of morbidity and mortality among patients with DT2.

Aim: To investigate the possible role of dyslipidaemia, hypertension and chronic kidney disease (CKD) on the characteristics of carotid atherosclerosis (presence of plaque, carotid IMT and total plaque area) in patients with DT2.

Material and methods: Patients aged 60–75 years with DT2 were included in this study. Control group included 24 healthy subjects the same age. Other atherosclerosis risk factors of subjects, including smoking, hypertension, dyslipidaemia, and CKD, were identified with a questionnaire and a blood test. The IMT was measured using automated edge detection software as the distance between the lumen–intima interface and the media–adventitia interface. Atherosclerotic plaque was defined as a focal structure encroaching into the arterial lumen of 0.5 mm or 50% of the surrounding IMT value or IMT of >1.5 mm. Total plaque area (TPA) was calculated as the sum of all plaque areas.

Results: We divided all patients (DT2 and control) into three groups: Group 1 (n=24) – patients did not have any additional atherosclerosis risk factor, Group 2 (n=25) – patients had one additional atherosclerosis risk factor, and Group 3 (n=43) – patients had two or three additional atherosclerosis risk factors. Using multiple linear regression analysis adjusted for confounding factors, IMT and TPA were significantly correlated with age >60 years (β=0.359, P<0.0001; β=0.263, P<0.0001), hypertension (β=0.041, P=0.003; β=0.126, P<0.0001), dyslipidemia (β=0.066, P=0.0001; β=0.125, P<0.0001) and CKD (β=0.054, P=0.003; β=0.165, P<0.0001), respectively. However, gender (men) was not significantly correlated with IMT (P=0.171) and TPA (P=0.112).

Conclusion: The presence of dyslipidaemia, hypertension, and different CKD status were predictors of carotid plaque.