[Noninvasive evaluation of arteriosclerotic changes in patients with diabetes mellitus]

In order to evaluate atherosclerotic changes in diabetes mellitus (DM), pulse wave velocity (PWV), forearm blood flow (FBF: by venous occlusion strain gauge plethysmography), forearm vascular resistance (VR: mean arterial pressure/FBF) and radial artery blood velocity (RABV: by ultrasonic Doppler) were determined noninvasively in healthy controls (n = 15) as well as age-matched diabetic patients with (DMHT, n = 11) or without hypertension (DMNT, n = 21). Both in controls and diabetic subjects, PWV demonstrated a significant positive correlation with age. Diabetics tended to show higher, although not significantly higher, PWV in comparison with controls. In controls, but not in diabetics, FBF and VR respectively demonstrated a significant negative and positive relationship with age. Diabetics younger than 50 years had a lower FBF and a higher VR in comparison with age-matched controls. In the DMHT group, FBF was significantly attenuated. There was no difference in RABV between controls and diabetic group. PWV did not correlate with FBF or VR. However, FBF did show a significant negative correlation with VR. RABV negatively correlated with FBF in diabetics, indicating that FBF may reflect distensibility in forearm arteries and veins. These results suggest that FBF may be a better arteriosclerotic index for resistance vessels and DM or hypertension may accelerate arteriosclerotic changes.