[A lipid metabolic disorder in diabetics]

A total of 52 patients with diabetes mellitus (DM) who ranged from 15 to 60 years old were examined. Of these, 44 had type I DM, eight patients were afflicted with type 2 DM. 77 percent of the examinees were found out to develop hyperlipoproteinemia (HLP), with type 2b HLP having been diagnosed in 80 percent of the patients, type 4 HLP in 20 percent. The latter abnormality was seen in that group of patients presenting with a severe course of diabetes. In patients with type 1 DM HLP was not age-associated; it was developing in the presence of non-compensated carbohydrate metabolism, with duration of diabetes aggravating the severity of HLP. Type 2 DM patients revealed type 2b HLP with metabolic compensation being unsatisfactory. The above study suggests that lipid metabolism may be caused to return to normal by correction of carbohydrate metabolism, and leads to the belief that treatment of HLP is a worth-while exercise.