Normative values of carotid artery intima-media thickness in healthy Korean adults and estimation of macrovascular diseases relative risk using this data in type 2 diabetes patients

The objectives of this study were to determine normative values of carotid intima-media thickness (IMT) in healthy Korean subjects and to use these values to estimate the relative risk of macrovascular diseases in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). High-resolution B-mode ultrasonography was performed in 1229 healthy subjects and 830 T2DM patients. Height, weight, blood pressure, fasting plasma glucose, total cholesterol, triglyceride, HDL-cholesterol, LDL-cholesterol, and fasting insulin level were measured. Subjects were classified as healthy subjects; T2DM patients without ischemic heart disease (IHD), stroke, and peripheral arterial occlusive diseases (PAOD); T2DM patients with IHD, stroke, or PAOD. IMT was significantly increased as age increased. Patients with T2DM had higher IMTs compared to healthy subjects. Independent risk factors of IMT were age, systolic blood pressure, BMI for healthy subjects, and age, duration of diabetes, LDL-cholesterol for T2DM subjects. According to presence of increased IMT, the relative risks of IHD, stroke, and PAOD in diabetic subjects, were 2.34 (CI; 1.32-4.14), 2.95 (CI; 1.46-5.54), and 3.64 (CI; 1.66-7.40), respectively. This study suggests normative values that can be used as an index for carotid artery IMT of healthy Korean subjects, and that IMT data reflects the risk of macrovascular diseases in T2DM.