QJM Advance Access originally published online on September 6, 2008
QJM 2008 101(11):875-879; doi:10.1093/qjmed/hcn109
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Type 2 diabetes mellitus: a high-risk condition for cardiovascular disease irrespective of the different degrees of obesity
From the 1Diabetes Centre, Northern General Hospital and 2Diabetes Centre, Royal Hallamshire Hospital, Sheffield, UK
Address correspondence to Dr Soon H. Song, Diabetes Centre, Northern General Hospital, Herries Road, Sheffield S5 7AU, UK. email: soon_song{at}hotmail.com
Received 16 May 2008 and in revised form 14 August 2008
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Abstract |
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Background: Measurement of body weight with body mass index (BMI) is often utilized to stratify cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk.
Aim: To determine CVD risk profile and disease burden in subjects with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) across different categories of body weight as defined by BMI.
Design: Prospective observational study.
Methods: CVD risk including metabolic syndrome (MetS) and prevalence of macrovascular complications were determined for each category of body weight as defined by the World Health Organisation (WHO) classification.
Results: A total of 390 subjects were included in this study of which 35.9% were non-obese (BMI <30 kg/m2). Although increasing obesity as defined by BMI was associated with higher prevalence of central abdominal obesity, hypertension and MetS (P < 0.05), dyslipidaemia and macrovascular complications were not significantly different across the various body weight categories (P = NS). Similar observation was seen in non-obese (BMI <30 kg/m2) and obese subjects (BMI >30 kg/m2). Among non-obese (including normal weight) cohort, the majority of these subjects had adverse CVD risk profile including presence of at least two co-existing risk factors.
Conclusions: Subjects with T2DM possess adverse CVD risk factors with significant burden of macrovascular disease irrespective of their baseline body weight.