EVALUATION OF LIPID PARAMETERS IN PATIENTS WITH DIABETES MELLITUS AND ISCHEMIC HEART DISEASE

Juhi Kataria*, Gurpreet Kaur Gill, Ravi Kumar Dhawan

ABSTRACT

Diabetes mellitus is a chronic condition that occurs when the body cannot produce sufficient insulin, caused by a genetic predisposition along with environmental factors. The number of people with diabetes mellitus worldwide is increasing and by 2035 this will have risen to 552 million. Patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus have a considerably higher risk of cardiovascular morbidity and mortality, as compared to non-diabetics. And this risk is associated with hypertension, dyslipidemia and obesity in these patients. Thus it is imperative to evaluate the biochemical parameters, most importantly lipids. The objective of the present study was to evaluate the lipid profile in patients with diabetes mellitus and ischemic heart disease and its comparison with healthy controls. One hundred and twenty individuals participated in this study and were categorized on the basis of health (diabetic with ischemic heart and non diabetic) and gender (males and females). Exclusion criteria were subjects with the history of alcoholism, smoking, renal diseases, thyroid disorders and pregnancy. All the individuals were subjected to detailed history, biochemical analysis for fasting blood sugar, total cholesterol, triglycerides, low density lipoprotein (LDLc), high density lipoprotein (HDLc), very low density lipoprotein (VLDLc). Both males and females showed significant increase in total cholesterol, triglycerides, LDLc and VLDLc, as compared to healthy controls. However, both males and females showed low levels of HDLc as compared to healthy controls. The protective function of HDLc may be lost in type 2 diabetics leading to protein modifications, resulting in oxidative stress. Females were found to depict higher levels of total cholesterol, LDLc and TC:HDLc, as compared to males. This study showed that females are prone to diabetic dyslipidemia. This can be reduced by controlling diabetic induced lipid abnormalities in patients through different approaches and also enable us to maintain the health of patients by detecting heart disease at an early stage and its prevention with appropriate medications.

Keywords: Diabetes mellitus, cardiovascular disease, dyslipidemia, cholesterol, triglycerides, high density lipoprotein.