W. Nitiyanant et al., VASCULAR COMPLICATIONS IN NON-INSULIN-DEPENDENT DIABETICS IN THAILAND, Diabetes research and clinical practice, 25(1), 1994, pp. 61-69
Ten hospitals participated in a cross-sectional study to determine the
prevalence of vascular complications in noninsulin dependent diabetes
mellitus (NIDDM). The patients were 1433 females and 627 males, aged
24-88 years (mean +/- S.D. = 58.0 +/- 9.9). Duration of diabetes varie
d from newly diagnosed to 42 years (mean +/- S.D. = 8.2 +/- 6.5). Obes
ity was noted in 16.9% of males and 27.4% of females. The prevalence o
f hypertension, myocardial infarction (MI), hemiplegia, absent dorsali
s pedis pulse, gangrene and amputation were 38.4, 2.8, 3.7, 5.8, 0.3 a
nd 1.3%, respectively. Diabetic retinopathy (DR) was found in 32.1% of
the patients. Proteinuria of greater than or equal to 2+ was observed
in 18.7% of the patients. Stepwise multiple logistic regression analy
sis revealed that hypertension was significantly and independently cor
related with MI, hemiplegia and DR but not with proteinuria or absent
dorsalis pedis pulse. DR and proteinuria had a strong correlation with
each other. Age of the patients weakly correlated with macrovascular
diseases. Diabetic control and duration showed a weak correlation with
microvascular complications. This study showed that DR was frequently
found in Thai NIDDM. Hypertension was not only the commonest disorder
but it also showed an independent association with other vascular com
plications. Early detection and intervention for both need to be empha
sized and re-enforced in clinical practice.