Objective: Although persistent hyperglycemia contributes greatly to the progression of diabetic micro- and macroangiopathy, microangiopathy progresses more rapidly than macroangiopathy in some type 2 diabetic patients, with the opposite being true in others. This study was conducted to identify factors responsible for such dissociation.
Research design and methods: Patients with proliferative diabetic retinopathy and a carotid intima-media thickness (IMT) level < or =1.0 mm were classified as the microangiopathy group (MIG); those with an IMT level >1.1 mm and without retinopathy or with background retinopathy were assigned to the macroangiopathy group (MAG). Only middle-aged patients, 50-69 years old, were included in this study. There were 54 patients in the MIG and 68 patients in the MAG.
Results: Patients in the MIG were significantly younger at the onset of diabetes, and those in the MAG had a significantly higher mean ratio of apoprotein (apo) B to apoAI. The percentage of patients with a family history of diabetes was significantly higher in the MIG. Maternal inheritance was common among these patients. Those with obesity, a family history of diabetes, and younger onset of hypertension were more common in the MAG. In the multiple logistic regression analyses, maternal inheritance and early onset of diabetes were independent risk factors for the acceleration of microangiopathy. A personal history of obesity and a family history of hypertension were independently related to the development of macroangiopathy.
Conclusions: Our results suggest that patients with early onset and maternal inheritance of diabetes may have a high risk for the progression of diabetic microangiopathy, while patients with hyperlipidemia, a history of obesity, and a family history of hypertension seem prone to the development of atherosclerosis.