Relationship Between Carotid Intima-Media Thickness and the Presence and Extent of Coronary Stenosis in Type 2 Diabetic Patients With Carotid Atherosclerosis but Without History of Coronary Artery Disease

OBJECTIVE We examined the relationship between the presence and extent of coronary stenosis and carotid intima-media thickness (CIMT) in type 2 diabetic patients without history of coronary artery disease (CAD) but with carotid atherosclerosis. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS A total of 91 type 2 diabetic patients underwent multi-slice computed tomography coronary angiography. RESULTS Max-IMT in the ≥ 50% stenosis group by multi-slice computed tomography coronary angiography estimation was significantly greater than the 0-25 and 25-50% stenosis group (2.68 ± 0.77 vs. 1.61 ± 0.49 mm, P < 0.0005, and 2.14 ± 0.81 mm, P < 0.05, respectively), and max-IMT in the 25-50% stenosis group was significantly greater than the 0-25% stenosis group (P < 0.05) after adjustment for age, sex, duration of type 2 diabetes, hypertension, and dyslipidemia. In the analysis for trend through the categories of max-IMT, as max-IMT increased, the percentage of ≥ 50% stenosis increased and the percentage of 0-25% stenosis decreased. CONCLUSIONS Our data suggest that max-IMT might be closely associated with the extent of coronary stenosis in type 2 diabetic patients without history of CAD but with carotid atherosclerosis.