Pattern of dyslipidemia and evaluation of non-HDL cholesterol as a marker of risk factor for cardiovascular disease in type 2 diabetes mellitus.

People with type 2 Diabetes have an elevated risk for developing cardiovascular disease (CVD) for which dyslipidemia is the major contributor. Diabetic patients have characteristic pattern of dyslipidemia with decreased level of high density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) and elevated triglycerides (TG) level. However, in diabetes mellitus, low density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) which is used as one of the markers for the risk of CVD, is underestimated so in such cases the levels of non-High density lipoprotein cholesterol (non-HDL-C) can be a stronger predictor of CVD as it strongly correlates with atherogenic lipoproteins. Therefore, an attempt has been made to evaluate the level of non-HDL-C as a newer marker for the risk of cardiovascular disease and to find out the pattern of dyslipidemia in diabetes mellitus. The present study comprised of 82 type 2 Diabetic cases and 81 non-diabetic controls. Among the diabetics, the majority of the subjects (61.0%) were HDL-C dyslipidemic. However, among the controls, the maximum numbers of individuals (40.7%) were TG dyslipidemic. Diabetics have significantly elevated ratio of total cholesterol to high density lipoprotein cholesterol (TC/HDL-C) and the significant increased levels of non-high density lipoprotein cholesterol (non-HDL-C) compared to controls which can be used as markers of dyslipidemia and can also be used to predict the risk of cardiovascular disease in type 2 Diabetes Mellitus.