Reappraisal of the role of the diabetic state in coronary artery disease.

Clinical and coronary arteriographic findings were evaluated in patients with angina pectoris who were considered not to have diabetes mellitus or to have chemical or clinical diabetes. Each of the three groups consisted of 100 consecutive referred patients. Neither the age of the patients nor duration of symptoms differed significantly among the groups. Hypertension, gout, and peripheral vascular disease were more frequent in the patients with clinical diabetes. There was no difference in serum cholesterol concentration among the groups, but plasma triglyceride levels and the frequency of type 4 hyperlipoproteinemia were significantly higher (p less than 0.01) in the chemical and clinical diabetic groups than in the nondiabetic patients. Coronary arteriographic observations indicated that the severity of the coronary arterial disease was greater in both diabetic groups than in nondiabetic patients. The difference in the coronary scores among the three groups of patients interacts to some extent with the triglyceride level, since a high score in the diabetic groups was noted only in the presence of an elevated tryglyceride concentration. The results indicate that the increased severity of coronary arterial disease in diabetic patients is not attributable to age, duration of symptoms, hypertension, type -4 hyperlipoproteinemia, or apparent severity of the glucose intolerance.