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Aortic Stiffness in Insulin‐dependent Diabetics: An Echocardiographic Study
Author(s) -
Thordarson H.,
Thorgeirsson G.,
Helgason T.
Publication year - 1986
Publication title -
diabetic medicine
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.474
H-Index - 145
eISSN - 1464-5491
pISSN - 0742-3071
DOI - 10.1111/j.1464-5491.1986.tb00789.x
Subject(s) - medicine , diabetes mellitus , blood pressure , cardiology , diastole , endocrinology , pulse pressure
To assess the aortic stiffness (AS) in young (15–35 year old) insulin‐dependent diabetics without manifestations of atherosclerotic disease or hypertension, M‐mode echocardiography was used to measure relative changes in aortic diameter expressed as Aortic strain = Diameter change/Diastolic diameter x 100% Aortic stiffness can be calculated from the formula AS = Pulse pressure/Aortic strain. Fifty‐seven diabetics were investigated, 31 men (aged 23.6 ± 5.6 years, mean ± SD) and 26 women (aged 25.7 ± 6.4 years). There were 26 healthy controls with similar blood pressure, 14 men (aged 25.0 ± 5.5 years) and 12 women (aged 24.6 ± 7.1). The AS in diabetic men was 14 ± 8.0 (mean ± SD) compared to 3.6 ± 0.7 in controls ( p <0.001). In diabetic women the AS was 5.8 ± 3.1 compared to 4.3 ± 1.3 in controls ( p <0.05). Diabetic men also had much stiffer aortas than diabetic women ( p <0.001). There was a linear correlation between AS and duration of diabetes in men ( R = 0.70; ( p <0.001). For females no such correlation was found, the AS frequently being within the range of the controls in spite of long duration of the disease. In males there was a significant correlation between AS and retinopathy ( R = 0.49; p <0.01) and an inverse correlation with HDL‐cholesterol/total cholesterol ratio ( R = 0.51; p <0.01). In diabetic females AS was significantly greater in smokers (7.0 ± 3.7) than in non‐smokers (4.2 ± 2.2; p <0.01). In neither sex were there significant correlations between AS and post‐prandial blood glucose, HbA 1c , triglycerides or total cholesterol. The results show that AS frequently increases at a young age in insulin‐dependent diabetics, especially males, who on average double the stiffness increment every 7.5 years of the disease.