| Summary: | Background: Limited data exists on arterial stiffness in sub-Sahara Africa where diabetes and cardiovascular diseases are increasing rapidly. We aimed to compare the indices of arterial stiffness among type 2 diabetes (T2DM) and non-diabetes subjects (NDM), without hypertension, in Ghana.
Method: Thirty eight T2DM patients and 34 NDM volunteers (as screened by OGTT), between the ages of 40–70 years, were randomly recruited, with no history of antihypertensive medication and supine blood pressure (BP) < 140/90 mmHg. Weight, height and waist circumference (WC) were measured. Indices of arterial stiffness, pulse wave velocity (PWV), aortic systolic blood pressure (ASBP), and aortic augmentation index (AAlx) were measured with Arteriograph (Tensiomed, Hungary) . The Cardio-Ankle Vascular Index (CAVI) & derived PWV were measured with the 4-cuff Vasera 1500 (Fukuda-Denshi, Tokyo, Japan) supine after 10 minutes rest in a temperature-controlled room.
Results: There was no difference in the gender distribution (p=0.6), mean age (p=0.2), BMI (p=0.07) and WC (p=0.4) between T2DM and NDM subjects. Also, mean (±SD) brachial systolic (124.9±9.6 vs. 121.9±10.0, p=0.3) and diastolic (74.3±7.6 vs. 71.22±9.7, p=0.6) BP did not differ between T2DM and NDM, respectively. However, T2DM subjects had slightly higher PWV (8.2±1.1 vs 7.1±0.98, p=0.048), CAVI (7.76±1.12 vs. 6.73±0.66, p=0.042, but lower AAIx (19.3±10.4 vs. 27.7±15.1, p=0.02), respectively. There was no difference in ASBP between T2DM and NDM subjects (116.7±11.7 vs. 117.5±12, p=0.8).
Conclusion: In the Ghanaian setting, T2DM may have a greater impact on indices of arterial stiffness in the absence of overt arterial hypertension.
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