[Metabolic changes and most frequent complications in a group of type II diabetics. Their relation to the...

With the purpose of knowing which metabolic disorders and clinical complications are more frequently developed by diabetic patients, and to analyze the relationship between the hyperglycemia state and appearance of these complications, we studied a group of patients from a Metabolic Diseases Clinic in Maracaibo, Venezuela. Fifty-four Type II diabetics patients were evaluated by means of: physical examination, anthropometric measurements, biochemical control of glycemia, insulin and lipid pattern, as well as evaluation of the complications presented. The sample consisted of 33 men and 21 women, 75% of which had glycemic values over 140 mg/dl. Basal insulin values were significantly high (29.9 +/- 8.3 uU/ml in men and 30.9 +/- 10.1 uU/ml in women) in relation to a control group (14.5 +/- 2.4 uU/ml), concluding that our diabetics presented basal hyperinsulinemia and insulin resistance. The lipid pattern of the subjects studied showed hypertriglyceridemia (70%) and hypercholesterolemia (67%). A positive association between glycemia and triglycerides values was found in the total group. HDL-cholesterol values were significantly lower in relation to the control group, obtaining a negative correlation between HDL-cholesterol and triglycerides. The clinical complications observed in these diabetics were: non-specific visuals alterations, signs of arterial illness and sensorial disorders distributed in a similar percentage (63, 61 and 51%, respectively). When the independence test X2 was applied, we obtained association (p less than 0.05) between glycemia and the frequency of complications.