Platelets tests, acute phase reactants and serum lipids were measured in patients
with diabetes mellitus and patients with peripheral vascular disease. Patients frequently
had abnormal platelet tests and significantly increased acute phase reactants and
serum lipids, compared to young healthy control subjects. These differences were compared
with multidiscriminant analysis. Patients could be separated in part from the control
subjects with variables derived from the measurement of acute phase proteins and serum
lipids. Platelet test results improved the separation between diabetics and control
subjects, but not between patients with peripheral vascular disease and control subjects.
Diabetic patients with severe retinopathy frequently had evidence of platelet activation.
They also had increased acute phase reactants and serum lipids compared to diabetics
with absent or nonproliferative retinopathy. In patients with peripheral vascular
disease, only the fibrinogen concentration was related to the degree of vessel damage
by arteriography.
Keywords
Diabetes mellitus - Peripheral vascular disease - Platelet density - β-thromboglobulin