Abstract P137: Arterial Stiffness in Diabetic Patients on Oral Antidiabetic Agents V/s a Combination of Oral Antidiabetic Agents Plus Insulin

Abstract

In a previous publication (Journal of the American Society of Hypertension 2014;8(4):e35-e36 we did a comparison study of arterial stiffness in diabetic pts taking oral antidiabetic agents (ODA) v/s those taking Insulin. The aim of the present study was to compare aortic stiffness determined from resting and exercise pulse pressure (PP) in a group of pts taking ODA v/s a group of pts taking a combination of ODA and insulin. We studied 86 diabetic pts referred to us for the performance of a maximal treadmill exercise test as part of a workup for chest pain. They were divided into 46 pts taking ODA (group 1) v/s 46 pts taking a combination of ODA plus insulin (group 2). Their age, heart rate(HR) both rest and exercise, PP both rest and exercise, exercise duration in seconds and HbA1C are noted in the table. There was no significant difference in the HR and PP both at rest and during exercise between both groups. Also, no significant difference was found in their ages and exercise duration although group 2 pts were older, had greater PP both at rest and exercise and had shorter exercise duration. The only significant difference was that goup 2 had a sinificantly higher A1C than group 1(p<0.003) reflecting the severity of their diabetes. We conclude from this small study, that the addition of Insulin to oral antidiabetic agents did not affect aortic stiffness as determined by PP which is a surrogate for other measures of aortic stiffness.