Tohoku J. Exp. Med., 2005, 205(4)

The Prevalence of Silent Ischemia in Turkish Patients with Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus

HALUK SARGIN, MURAT OZISIK, NURCIN C. OZISIK, OMER SEVEN, EKREM ORBAY, HULYA GOZU, MEHMET SARGIN, MUSTAFA TEKCE and ALI YAYLA

Department of Endocrinology and Metabolic Diseases of Internal Medicine Clinic, Kartal Education and Research Hospital, Istanbul, Turkey

Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is the major cause of death in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus. However, the diagnosis of CVD is delayed due to concealment of antecedent symptoms by factors such as autonomic neuropathy. In this study, we aimed to investigate the frequency of silent ischemia by using exercise electrocardiogram (ECG). The present study included 500 Turkish patients with type 2 diabetes (male/female: 222/278), who showed no evidence of CAD and angina pectoris or no sign(s) of ischemic changes in resting ECGs. All patients underwent treadmill exercise test according to Bruce protocol, and 62 cases (12.4%) exhibited abnormal changes. These patients identified by exercise ECG consisted of 28 males (28/222, [12.6%]) and 34 females (34/278, [12.2%]) and were then examined by coronary angiography. CAD was diagnosed in 53 individuals by coronary angiography. The abnormalities of exercise test are associated with the age of the patients or the duration of diabetes (p < 0.05). There is no significant difference in the severity of coronary disease or in the prevalence of silent ischemia between male and female patients. However, among the patients identified by exercise ECG females have higher body mass index than males, suggesting that obesity may represent the risk factor of CAD in women with type 2 diabetes.

keywords —— type 2 diabetes mellitus; coronary artery disease; silent ischemia

© 2005 Tohoku University Medical Press

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Correspondence: Haluk Sargin, M.D., Gözenç sok. No:7/13, Ali Bey Apt. Kantarci, Erenkoy, 81060 Istanbul, Turkey.

e-mail: sarginm@yahoo.com, haluksargin@hotmail.com