Endocrine Abstracts

Introduction: Obesity worsens the prognosis of diabetic patients by increasing the cardiovascular risk and chronic complications. Waist circumference, as a brief indicator of visceral obesity, is associated with multi-metabolic disorders and cardiovascular diseases. The aim of the study was to report the prevalence of WC in individuals with diabetes and find out their association with other cardiovascular risk factors.

Material and Methods: We performed a transversal study, in which 100 patients with essential hypertension, and type 2 diabetes, were evaluated in comparison with 100 patients with only hypertension. We evaluate these patients for: BMI, waist circumference (cut offs as 90 cm in men and 80 cm in women); IMT; microalbuminuria; fundus oculi, LVMI. Serum PCR and lipid concentrations were measured.

Results: A total of 200 hypertensive patients were enrolled in the study (138 female and 62 male, respectively 69 and 31%). Mean age for HTA group was 58.2 (±11.9) years and for the other group 60.7 (±9.3) years. The diabetic hypertensive subjects significantly had higher BMI (P=0.01) and WC statistically significant (103.6 cm vs 98.3 cm; P=0.005). There was a significant positive association between WC and microalbuminuria (P=0.009); WC and IMT (P=0.028); Was seen a relation of waist circumference and diabetic retinopathy; 84% of patients with abdominal obesity have changes of diabetic retinopathy independently of stage of changes.

Conclusions: Prevalence of obesity in diabetic hypertensive patients was high. There was a positive relation of waist circumference and microalbuminuria, IMT, and diabetic retinopathy. So, abdominal obesity is not only reflects sub-clinical atherosclerosis in early stage, but also predicts the progression of atherosclerosis and development of microalbuminuria. This underlines the importance of measuring waist circumference when assessing cardiovascular risk factors in diabetic patients.