ABSTRACT. Macroangiopathy is the most important cause of mortality and morbidity in type II diabetes. The atherosclerotic process in diabetes is similar to that found in non-diabetic subjects, but the laesions are more extensive and the clinical manifestations are more common in diabetic subjects than in the non-diabetic population. In diabetic patients from different populations, the prevalence of macroangiopathy is variable, and the relative frequency follows the pattern found in the respective non-diabetic populations. The relative risk of large vessel disease is in most populations higher for female than for male diabetics. Coronary heart disease is the most important manifestation of macroangiopathy while cerebrovascular disease and peripheral vascular disease are less frequent, although all these manifestations occur at increased frequency among middle-aged diabetic subjects. The incidence of peripheral vascular disease seems to increase with increasing duration of diabetes in middle-aged subjects, whereas coronary heart disease is particularly frequent in type II diabetes already at the time of the diagnosis.
Key words: atherosclerosis, complications, diabetes mellitus, macroangiopathy, mortality.
Cardiovascular risk factors clustering with endogenous hyperinsulinaemia predict death from coronary heart disease in patients with Type II diabetes