Abstract
Arterial stiffness serves as a cardiovascular disease marker, aiding in the early
identification of high-risk patients. We aimed to evaluate the prevalence of arterial
stiffness, measured by global pulse wave velocity (gPWV), among diabetic normotensive
menopausal women (DPMW) and its correlation with levels of glycosylated hemoglobin
(HbA1c). We recruited 641 consecutive DPMW diagnosed with type 2 diabetes over 5 years.
The control group (CG) consisted of 300 normotensive, normoglycemic menopausal women.
Normal gPWV was defined as a velocity ≤7.1 m/s. We enrolled 641 DPMW with a mean age
of 57 ± 12 years. The CG comprised 300 normotensive, normoglycemic postmenopausal
women with a mean age of 56 ± 4 years. Among DPMW, 29 (4.5%) exhibited increased gPWV
compared with 4 (1.3%) in the CG (p < 0.01). Of the 225 (35.1%) DPMW with HbA1c > 7.5%, 23 (10.2%) had increased gPWV.
In contrast, among the 416 (64.9%) DPMW with HbA1c < 7.5%, only 6 (1.4%) had increased
gPWV (p < 0.0001). Electrocardiographic (ECG) abnormalities were detected in 208 (32.4%)
DPMW, with 11 (5.3%) of them exhibiting increased gPWV (p = 0.6). There was a higher prevalence of increased gPWV in asymptomatic normotensive
DPMW, with a significant association between increased gPWV and elevated HbA1c levels.
However, there was no correlation between increased gPWV and abnormal ECG findings,
despite ECG being the sole test recommended by current guidelines for all diabetic
patients. Early detection of elevated HbA1c levels and increased gPWV may identify
asymptomatic DPMW at higher cardiovascular risk, highlighting the inadequacy of a
simple ECG in assessing cardiovascular risk in this population.
Keywords
menopausal women - normotensive - diabetes - atherosclerosis - early diagnosis - pulse
wave velocity - arterial stiffness
