Abstract
In order to establish whether patients treated with oral hypoglycemic agents have lower serum HDL-cholesterol levels than control patients matched for lipid and non-lipid variable factors that have been shown to affect the serum HDL-cholesterol levels, we divided 80 diabetics into three groups; insulin therapy (11 females, 13 males), oral hypoglycemic agent therapy (11 females, 18 males) and those treated by diet alone (14 females 13 males). Diabetics on oral hypoglycemic agents showed a significant increase in HDL3-cholesterol coupled with a significant fall in HDL2-cholesterol compared with those on insulin. On multivariate analysis, HDL2-cholesterol levels correlated significantly and positively with sex (p<0.05) and negatively with relative body weight (p<0.05). On the other hand, HDL3-cholesterol levels correlated positively with LDL-cholesterol levels and the amount of alcohol consumed (p<0.05 for both) and negatively with the mode of treatment (diabetics on insulin had significantly lower values than those on oral hypoglycemic agents) and VLDLcholesterol levels (p<0.05 for both). When the three groups of diabetics were matched for the above factors, diabetics on oral hypoglycemic agents were found to have significantly lower HDL2-cholesterol levels than those on insulin, regandless of sex. These results suggest that decreased HDL2-cholesterol levels in diabetics undergoing oral hypoglycemic agent therapy could be relevant to the subsequent development of atherosclerosis.
