[Disorders of lipid content of blood in diabetes mellitus]

The authors present the results of prospective study of the blood serum lipids (total cholesterol, triglycerides, lipoproteid fractions) in 132 patients with diabetes mellitus aged from 35 to 60 years and in 47 healthy persons of the same age (control group). The majority of the patients examined (60.6%) showed hyperlipidemia; types II and IV were most frequent. An increase in the content of the probeta-lipoproteid fraction and hypertriglyceridemia were mostly encountered in patients with macroangiopathies, particularly in the presence of adiposity. There was revealed no significant relationship between the frequency of hyperlipidemia and the severity of diabetes mellitus. However, the most distinct lipid disturbances were found in the patients with the disease of moderate severity. This was apparently connected with the prevalence in this group of persons with an excessive weight. As revealed, the incidence of hyperlipidemia rose on account of increased level of both total cholesterol and of triglycerides (with a tendency to their greater content in women).