OBJECTIVE -We investigated the morphological characteristics of coronary arteries in patients with impaired glucose tolerance (IGT) using computer-assisted quantitative coronary angiography. IGT is an independent risk factor for cardiovascular disease. However, the morphological changes developing in the coronary arteries of patients with IGT remain unknown.RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS -A total of 534 patients with angina pectoris were studied. Of these, 144 patients were being treated for diabetes. The remaining 390 patients were classified as follows depending on the results of a 75-g oral glucose tolerance test: normal glucose tolerance (NGT) (n ϭ 117), impaired fasting glucose (n ϭ 3), IGT (n ϭ 136), and diabetes pattern (preclinical diabetes) (n ϭ 134). The diameters of the middle section of all major coronary artery segments were measured and averaged to determine the averaged vessel diameter (AVD). We defined segments of a diameter of Յ1.5 mm as diseased lesions and determined the averaged lesion length (ALL).RESULTS -AVD and ALL were significantly different among patients with IGT and those with NGT. Patients with diabetes (preclinical and/or treated) had smaller AVD and longer ALL than those with IGT. By multivariate analysis, postprandial glucose levels were shown to be independently associated with an AVD Ͻ3.0 mm and an ALL Ͼ20 mm.CONCLUSIONS -Diffuse coronary artery narrowing develops not only in patients with diabetes but also in those with IGT. This morphological change is associated with postprandial hyperglycemia.
Diabetes Care 28:2217-2222, 2005I mpaired glucose tolerance (IGT) has been regarded as intermediate between normal glucose tolerance (NGT) and overt diabetes. Recently, evidence has been accumulating that IGT may play a pathological role as one aspect of the metabolic syndrome. Epidemiological studies, i.e., the Funagata and DECODE (Diabetes Epidemiology: Collaborative Analysis of Diagnostic Criteria in Europe) studies (1,2), indicated that IGT characterized as postprandial hyperglycemia is an independent risk factor for cardiovascular disease. However, it is not known whether morphological changes develop in the coronary arteries of patients with IGT, as in those of diabetic patients for whom small vessel diameter and long lesion length (diffuse narrowing) are found in multiple vessels (3,4). In the present study, we assessed coronary angiographic features in patients with IGT by using computer-assisted quantitative analysis.
RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS -From April 2000 toJune 2002, 1,529 patients were hospitalized due to nonischemic and ischemic heart disease in our facility of the National Cardiovascular Center, a tertiary referral hospital in the northern district of Osaka, Japan. We obtained informed consent and performed quantitative coronary angiography (QCA) in patients with recurrent chest pain associated with electrocardiographic and/or echocardiographic evidence of myocardial ischemia and without contraindications to the administration of iodinated contrast agent (e.g., predia...