Prevalence of carotid atherosclerosis in diabetic patients. Ultrasound high-resolution B-mode imaging on carotid arteries.

OBJECTIVE--To quantitatively assess atherosclerosis of the carotid artery in subjects with and without diabetes. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS--Ultrasound high resolution B-mode imaging of carotid arteries was conducted on 71 nondiabetic subjects without hyperlipidemia or hypertension and 295 diabetic patients to determine IMT of the arterial wall. RESULTS--IMT was linearly related with age in nondiabetic (IMT = 0.0087 x age] + 0.3318) and diabetic subjects (IMT = 0.0155 x age] + 0.32450). The regression coefficient for age was significantly greater in diabetic than nondiabetic subjects. IMT (mean +/- SD) of diabetic subjects aged 20-29 was significantly greater than that of nondiabetic subjects aged 20-29 (0.73 +/- 0.27 vs. 0.52 +/- 0.07 mm, P less than 0.01). Multivariate regression analysis of 275 NIDDM patients indicated smoking, hyperlipidemia, duration of diabetes, hypertension, and age were factors determining thickness of the carotid arterial wall. CONCLUSIONS--Diabetes, along with age, hyperlipidemia, smoking, and hypertension, aggravates carotid atherosclerosis.