WHEN CARDIOVASCULAR COMPLICATIONS OCCUR IN YOUNG PATIENTS WITH TYPE 1 DIABETES MELLITUS AND HOW SHOULD WE DEMONSTRATE IT?

Abstract

In a recent issue of your journal, I have read the article by Bućani et al. with great interest1 . In their study, the authors report that there was no statistically signficant correlation between the duration of type 1 diabetes mellitus (DM) and echocardiographic values. It is known that DM increases the prevalence of cardiovascular diseases (CVD) independently of the underlying coronary artery disease2 . In the present study by Bućan et al., the mean age of study population was 33 years, and 43.5 years for the oldest group. In a large study that included 3200 patients with type 1 DM, the prevalence of CVD was found to be 6% in the 15-29 age group and 25% in the 45-59 age group. The prevalence of CVD was related to the increase in age significantly cantly3 . Therefore, this study population may be younger for cardiovascular complications of type 1 DM. The relationship of hyperglycemia with microangiopathy as well as macroangiopathy is more significant in type 1 DM than type 2 DM4 . In the present study by Bućan et al., HbA1c levels were <9%. Also, patients with hypertension and other heart and kidney diseases were excluded. In this sense, this study population may have a low risk of CVD, especially of systolic dysfunction, which can be a complication of microangiopathy and macroangiopathy.