DETERMINANTS OF WHOLE-BLOOD AND PLASMA INERTIA IN DIABETIC-PATIENTS AND HEALTHY CONTROLS

The rheological properties of blood play an important role in determin ing blood flow. Blood inertia, as characterized by blood density, cont rols blood flow in the large arteries, whereas blood viscosity becomes increasingly important with decreasing vessel diameter. We investigat ed potential determinants of plasma and whole blood density in 26 Type 1 diabetic patients and in 24 healthy controls matched for age and se x. Plasma density correlated significantly with total protein (p<0.001 ) and albumin concentrations (p<0.004), whole blood density was signif icantly associated with hematocrit (p<0.001) and mean corpuscular hemo globin concentration (p<0.04). Plasma and whole blood density correlat ed significantly with plasma (p<0.001) and whole blood viscosity (p<0. 005), respectively. Diabetic patients did not differ from healthy cont rols in plasma or whole blood density. When no densitometer is availab le, it will be sufficient to measure total protein concentration and h ematocrit, respectively, to address inertial forces of plasma and whol e blood qualitatively. Copyright (C) 1996 Elsevier Science Ltd