Abstract
In spite of the widely recognized observation that atherosclerotic vascular lesions are frequently seen in diabetics, the nature of this correlation is poorly understood.
The purpose of the present study was to clarify the interrelationship between impaired glucose tolerance and atherosclerotic vascular lesions in aged subjects (over 60 years) by the use of analysis of variance.
The role of risk factors (age, sex, osteoporosis, Ht, serum triglyceride, total cholesterol, uric acid, fibrinogen, hypertension, and impaired glucose tolerance) in the development of atheroscle rotic lesions was analyzed by categorical regression analysis in approximately 200 subjects each with cerebral thrombosis, myocardial infarction, or calcification of the thoracic, abdominal aorta or femoral artery.
Impaired glucose tolerance was found to be intimately correlated with cerebral thrombosis, and calcification of the abdominal aorta and femoral artery, respectively. Attempts were then made to characterize the specific atherosclerotic vascular changes, if any, in the aged diabetics. Ninety-four aged subjects with diabetic glucose tolerance curves were subjected to categorical principal analysis to determine whether there were any vascular changes characteristic to aged diabetics. It was found that cerebral thrombosis and calcified femoral artery were characteristic, but not specific, to the diabetics. Furthermore, the analysis revealed that aged diabetics may be classified into 2 different clinical entities according to the pattern of vascular complications: DM1, which is free from the complications of cerebral thrombosis, but is usually accompanied by calcified femoral artery; and DM2, which is usually complicated by cerebral thrombosis, but is without calcified femoral artery.
