Endothelial dysfunction: The contribution of diabetes mellitus to the risk factor burden in a high risk population

Background: Cardiovascular diseases (CVD) are the leading cause of morbidity and mortality in Western societies and are rapidly becoming a worldwide health problem. African-Americans have increased morbidity and mortality rates from CVD. Our study aimed to assess the effects of the CVD risk factors burden alone versus with diabetes mellitus in a high risk CVD population. Methods: The two study groups consisted of thirty seven diabetics and thirty seven non-diabetic African-Americans aged ≥55 years without clinical atherosclerosis having similar cardiovascular risk factors (age, hypertension, hypercholesterolemia, smoking, and body mass index) except for diabetes mellitus. Brachial artery flow-mediated dilation (FMD), Nitroglycerin-mediated dilatation (NMD) and carotid intima-media thickness (IMT) were recorded in all subjects. Results: Endothelial function as assessed by the brachial artery FMD was significantly impaired in the diabetic group compared to the non-diabetic group (7.8 ± 5 vs 3.3 ± 4; p = 0.0001). There were no differences in neither Nitroglycerinmediated dilatation (NMD) nor carotid intima-media thickness (IMT) in the diabetic and non-diabetic groups. Conclusion: The contribution of diabetes to the development of endothelial dysfunction in subjects with clustering of CVD risk factors may be early as indicated by significant functional changes preceeding structural vascular changes..