Relationship between Carotid Intima - media Thichness and Exercise - induced Silent Myocardial Ischemia in Patients with Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus

Objective To investigate the relationship between the carotid Intima - media thichness (IMT) and exercise - induced silent myocardial ischemia (SI) in the patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus.Methods A treadmill exercise test was performed in 98 type 2 diabetes mel-litus patients with normal rest electrocardiography and 31 healthy individuals for the diagnosis of exercise - induced SI. The high resolution ultrasound was used to measure carotid IMT.The fasting blood glucose (FBG) , total cholesterol (TC) ,low density lipoprotein- cholesterol (LDL- C) , high density lipoprotein - cholesterol (HDL- C) and triglycerides (TG) were determined. Results (1) The levels of TC, LDL- C, TG and FBG in type 2 diabetes patients with SI were significantly higher than those in the control subjects ( P 0.05) , while the HDL- C level is significantly lower than that in the control subjects ( P 0.05).(2) The carotid IMT were (0.62±0.12)mm,(0.65±0.11)mm and (0.70±0.14)mm respectively in the control subjets, type 2 diabetes patients without SI and type 2 diabetes patients with SI in whom the carotid IMT was significantly thicker than that in the control subjects ( P 0.05) . Conclusion The carotid IMT may be a predictor of coronary artery disease in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus.