Are complex coronary lesions more frequent in patients with diabetes mellitus?
BACKGROUND
Coronary atherosclerotic burden is excessive in diabetic patients. Diabetes mellitus (DM) is an independent predictor for both death and myocardial infarction. It is not known whether the prevalence of complex coronary lesions, such as bifurcation and ostial lesions, is different in diabetics from nondiabetics.


OBJECTIVE
The aim of present study was to investigate the prevalence of these lesions in patients with DM.


METHODS
One thousand fourteen consecutive patients (mean age 61.3+/-10.7 years) were investigated. Coronary angiograms were examined for bifurcation and ostial lesions using a digital quantitative system. Patients were classified as diabetic (n=281) or nondiabetic (n=733).


RESULTS
Patient mean age, and rates of hypertension and hyperlipidemia were significantly higher in the diabetic group than in the nondiabetic group (P<0.0001), although smoking was significantly lower (P=0.001). Reasons for coronary angiography and treatment were comparable between the two groups. The prevalence of bifurcation lesions and ostial lesions was significantly greater in the diabetic group than in the nondiabetic group (9.8% versus 4.3% [P=0.001] and 38.4% versus 29.2% [P=0.003] in the diabetic group versus the nondiabetic group). The presence of DM and greater age were found to be independent predictors for bifurcation lesions (OR=2.27 [P=0.004] and OR=1.03 [P=0.01], for DM and age, respectively) and ostial lesions (OR=1.40 [P=0.027] and OR=1.02 [P=0.001], for DM and age, respectively) in multivariate analysis.


CONCLUSIONS
Complex coronary lesions such as bifurcation and ostial lesions were significantly more common in diabetic patients than in nondiabetic patients. Greater age and the presence of DM were independent predictors for these complex lesions. These results may help to explain the poor prognosis of coronary artery disease among diabetic patients.
Baris
Nezihi
N
Department of Cardiology, Faculty of Medicine, Dokuz Eylul University, Izmir, Turkey. nezihi.baris@deu.edu.tr
Akdeniz
Bahri
B
Uyar
Samet
S
Ozel
Erdem
E
Kirimli
Onder
O
Badak
Ozer
O
Aslan
Ozgur
O
Guneri
Sema
S
D017023:Coronary Angiography; D003324:Coronary Artery Disease / Q000150:complications / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000453:epidemiology*; D003920:Diabetes Mellitus; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D006949:Hyperlipidemias; D006973:Hypertension; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015995:Prevalence; D014421:Turkey / Q000453:epidemiology