Diabetes Care, Vol 8, Issue 2 118-124, Copyright © 1985 by American Diabetes Association
The cardiovascular risk profile of adolescents with insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus
KJ Cruickshanks, TJ Orchard and DJ Becker
Cardiovascular risk factors including blood pressure, lipoprotein
concentrations, physical activity, and diet were assessed in 149 diabetic
adolescents and 45 nondiabetic siblings. All diabetic subjects had had
insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus (IDDM) for a minimum of 2 yr and were
currently attending the Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh Diabetes Clinic.
For both boys and girls, cardiovascular risk profiles were mildly disturbed
among diabetic subjects compared with nondiabetic siblings. These
disturbances included higher systolic (P = 0.002) and diastolic (P = 0.024)
blood pressures and higher HDL3 cholesterol concentrations. The diabetic
girls showed higher total cholesterol concentrations during adolescence in
contrast to the usual fall seen in nondiabetic adolescents (and evidenced
in the siblings studied). In addition, the diabetic girls' mean pulse rate
was 12 bpm higher than that of the sibling girls, a finding not seen in the
boys. Multiple linear regression analyses showed that neither glycemic
control (worse in diabetic girls), diet, nor physical activity were
important explanatory variables for any of the lipoprotein or blood
pressure measures. These results suggest that the cardiovascular risk
profile of diabetic girls may be relatively more disturbed than that of
diabetic boys. This difference could not be explained by the slightly
higher glycosylated hemoglobin levels in the girls. The loss of the sex
differential in the risk for cardiovascular disease experienced by adults
with IDDM may partly relate to these adolescent risk factor differences.