AIMS: To explore the association between carotid intima-media thickness (IMT) and the apolipoprotein B (apoB)/apolipoprotein A-I (apoA-I) ratio compared with conventional lipids in middle-aged patients with Type 2 diabetes. METHODS: We analysed data from 247 patients with Type 2 diabetes, aged 55-66 years, in the Cardiovascular Risk factors in Patients with Diabetes-a Prospective study in Primary care (CARDIPP-1) study. Primary care nurses measured blood pressure and anthropometric characteristics. Blood samples were taken for laboratory analyses. The carotid IMT was determined by ultrasonography at the University Hospital in Linköping and at the County Hospital Ryhov, Jönköping, Sweden. RESULTS: The ApoB/apoA-I ratio (r = 0.207, P = 0.001), apoB (r = 0.166, P = 0.009) and non-high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (non-HDL-c) (r = 0.129, P = 0.046) correlated with IMT. Conventional lipids, high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hsCRP), glycated haemoglobin (HbA(1c)) and systolic blood pressure were not significantly correlated to IMT. A stepwise logistic regression analysis was conducted with IMT as the dependent variable and the apoB/apoA-I ratio, HbA(1c), hsCRP, low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-c), total cholesterol, non-HDL-c and treatment with statins as independent variables. Following adjustment for age and gender, only the apoB/apoA-I ratio remained significantly associated with IMT (odds ratio 4.3, 95% confidence intervals 1.7-10.8, P = 0.002). CONCLUSIONS: We conclude that there was a significant association between the apoB/apoA-I ratio and IMT in middle-aged patients with Type 2 diabetes. The association was independent of conventional lipids, hsCRP, glycaemic control and use of statins.

Measuring intima-media thickness (IMT) in the common carotid artery (CCA) is a valuable resource for the evaluation of subclinical atherosclerosis. The main objective of this study was to explore whether a B-mode ultrasound technique, Philips ATL, and an M-mode ultrasound technique, Wall Track System (WTS), show interchangeable results when measured in CCA and the abdominal aorta (AA). A total of 24 healthy, young subjects were examined. IMT and lumen diameter (LD) of the AA and the CCA were measured twice by two skilled ultrasonographers with two different ultrasound equipment B-mode: (Philips, ATL and M-mode: WTS).The intra-observer variability of IMT in CCA and AA using B-mode showed a coefficient of variation 8% and 9%, and with M-mode 11% and 15%, respectively. Interobserver variability of IMT in CCA and AA using B-mode was 6% and 12%, and with M-mode 11% and 18%, respectively. CCA IMT was 0·53 ± 0·07 and 0·53 ± 0·09 mm using B-mode and M-mode, respectively. However, in AA, IMT was 0·61 ± 0·5 and 0·54 ± 0·10 mm using B-mode and M-mode, respectively. Thus, AA IMT was 11·5% thicker using B-mode (P<0·01). We received adequate IMT readings from the carotid artery as well as the AA using two commonly used B-mode and M-mode techniques. B-mode technique seems to show less variability, especially in the AA. More importantly, the two techniques measured different IMT thickness in the aorta, emphasizing the importance of using similar technique when comparing the impact of absolute values of IMT on cardiovascular disease.

The aim of this study was to explore associations between abdominal obesity, inflammatory markers, and subclinical organ damage in 740 patients with type 2 diabetes. Waist circumference (WC) and sagittal abdominal diameter (SAD) was measured. Blood samples were analyzed for; C-reactive protein (CRP), interleukin (IL) -1β and IL-6. Carotid intimamedia thickness (IMT) was evaluated by ultrasonography. Aortic pulse wave velocity (PWV) was measured with applanation tonometry.

Abdominal obesity were significantly correlated with; IL-6, CRP (both p= <0.001, WC and SAD, respectively), IMT (WC p=0.012, SAD p=0.003) and PWV (p<0.001, for WC and SAD, respectively). In multiple linear regressions with IMT as dependent variable and age, sex, statins, systolic blood pressure (SBP), Body Mass Index (BMI), CRP and HbA1c, as independent variables, SAD (p=0.047) but not WC, remained associated with IMT. In stepwise linear regression, entering both SAD and WC, the association between SAD and PWV was stronger than the association between WC and PWV.

We conclude that SAD and WC are feasible measures of obesity that provides information on inflammation, atherosclerosis and arterial stiffness in type 2 diabetes. However, SAD was slightly more robustly associated to subclinical organ damage, compared with WC.

Aim: The aim of this study was to prospectively explore how laboratory and anthropometric risk factors predicted subclinical organ damage in 255 patients, with type 2 diabetes, after four years.

Methods: Baseline investigations were performed in 2006 and were repeated at follow-up in 2010. Carotid intima-media thickness (IMT) was evaluated by ultrasonography and aortic pulse wave velocity (PWV) was measured with applanation tonometry over the carotid and femoral arteries at baseline and at follow-up in a cohort of subjects with type 2 diabetes aged 55-65 years old.

Results: There were significant correlations between apolipoprotein B (apoB) (r= 0.144, p=0.03), C - reactive protein (CRP) (r=0.172, p=0.009) at baseline and IMT measured at follow-up. After adjustment for sex, age, treatment with statins and Hba1c, the associations remained statistically significant. HbA1c, total cholesterol or LDL-cholesterol did not correlate to IMT at follow-up. Baseline body mass index (BMI) (r=0.130, p=0.049), waist circumference (WC) (r=0.147, p=0.027) and sagittal Abdominal Diameter (SAD) (r=0.184, p=0.007) correlated to PWV at follow-up. Challenged with sex, SBP and HbA1c, the association between SAD, not WC nor BMI, and PWV remained statistically significant (p=0.036). In a stepwise linear regression, entering both SAD and WC, the association between SAD and PWV was stronger than the association between WC and PWV.

Conclusion: We conclude that apoB and CRP, but not LDL-cholesterol predicted subclinical atherosclerosis. Furthermore, SAD was more independent in predicting arterial stiffness over time, compared with WC, in middle-aged men and women with type 2 diabetes.