PhD Scientific Days 2022

Clinical Medicine V. (Poster discussion will take place in the Aula during the Coffee Break)

The Presence of Adverse Atherosclerotic Coronary Plaque Features is Associated with Diabetes

Text of the abstract

Introduction: Diabetes mellitus (DM) is associated with increased cardiovascular morbidity and mortality. However, there is a lack of data about the prevalence of high-risk coronary artery plaques in patients with DM.
Aims: In our study we aimed to compare the prevalence of adverse atherosclerotic coronary artery plaque features between patients with and without DM.
Methods: We have analyzed the data of patients who underwent coronary computed tomography angiography (CCTA) between October 2012 and December 2020. Patients were divided into two groups based on the presence of DM.
Results: After exclusion, 11357 patients (47.6% men) were included in our study. Prevalence of DM was 14.5%. There were significant differences in age (63.2±9.5 vs 58.1±12.2 years, <0.001) and major cardiovascular risk factors between the two groups (all <0.05). While 29.6% of patients without DM had at least one high risk plaque, this rate was 38.9% in those with DM (positive remodeling: 19.6% vs 26.1%, low attenuation: 7.6% vs 10.2%, spotty calcium: 16.9% vs 21.6%, napkin-ring sign: 1.7% vs 2.6%, all p<0.05). Using multivariate analysis we found that DM increases the prevalence of any vulnerable plaque feature 1.26 (CI=1.13-1.41, p<0.001) times.
Conclusion: The prevalence of severe coronary artery stenosis and coronary plaques with adverse characteristics was higher in patients with DM. DM has been identified as an individual predictor of vulnerable plaque features.