General and gender characteristics of type 2 diabetes mellitus among the younger and older age groups.

objectivesTo study the characteristics of cardiovascular risk factors in regard to age (before and after 60) and gender. Many reports refer to the higher prevalence of cardiovascular risk factors among the younger type 2 diabetics in comparison with the older population.

methodsThe study included 462 randomly recruited type 2 diabetic subjects (above and below 60 years) attending Al-Zahrawi Private Hospital in Mosul City-Iraq, during the period from June to August 2011. They were analyzed in regard to age, duration of diabetes, smoking, socioeconomic status, anthropometric indices, blood pressure, fasting plasma glucose, glycated hemoglobin A1c and serum lipids. Data were analyzed using chi-square and unpaired Z test.

resultsDuration of diabetes, diastolic blood pressure, glycated hemoglobin A1c, fasting plasma glucose, serum lipids, number of hypercholesterolemic patients, number of patients having unfavorable total cholesterol/HDL ratio (≥5) and positive family history of coronary heart disease were all significantly higher in the younger diabetics. In addition, younger diabetic females were distinguished by a larger number of hypertensive patients, higher level of systolic blood pressure, higher means of body mass index, total cholesterol and LDL, and larger number of patients having low HDL-C (<1 mmol/L). The younger diabetic males were distinct by a larger number of smokers, number of smoked cigarettes/day, and longer duration of smoking. All parameters ranged between p<0.05 and p<0.005.

conclusionCardiovascular risk factors were significantly higher among younger type 2 diabetics (<60 years), particularly females.