Carotid Artery Intima-Media Thickness and 10-Year Risk of Heart Disease in Diabetic Patients: A Comparative Study

Objective: The aim of the present study was to assess the factors affecting carotid artery intima-media thickness (CIMT) and 10-year risk of heart disease in diabetic patients classified according to CIMT. Methods: This was an analytical cross-sectional study conducted on 92 patients for 1 year. 10-year risk of heart disease was calculated using the American College of Cardiology/American Heart Association Guideline on the Assessment of Cardiovascular Risk. Based on CIMT, the subjects were classified into two groups. Group 1 contains subjects with CIMT <0.9 and Group 2 contains subjects with CIMT ≥0.9. The Mann–Whitney U-test, Pearson’s correlation, and descriptive statistics were used to compare and describe the data. The level of statistical significance was taken at p<0.05. Results: Patients with 51–60 years of age group are high in number. Males were predominantly high than their counterparts. There is a statistically significant association between total cholesterol (p=0.001), high-density lipoproteins (p=0.000), low-density lipoproteins (p=0.001), postprandial blood sugar (p=0.000), and hemoglobin 1Ac (p=0.035) with CIMT. The mean 10-year risk of heart disease in Groups 1 and 2 is 13.13±15.40 and 23.63±17.57, respectively. There is statistically highly significant association (p=0.000) of 10-year risk of heart disease between two groups. There is a positive correlation (r=0.45, p<0.0001) between CIMT and risk of heart disease. Conclusion: Our study found that greater the CIMT, greater the risk of the heart of disease.