Platelet adhesiveness in diabetes mellitus with relation to treatment.

To determine whether diabetes mellitus alters the function of platelets, a study on platelet adhesiveness in 30 controls and 75 newly diagnosed diabetics (25 cases of type-1 and 50 cases of type-II) before and after treatment was undertaken. The platelet adhesiveness was 68.83 +/- 6.09% (mean + SD) in type-I diabetics, 72.43 +/- 6.10% in type-II diabetics and 56.31 +/- 9.62% in controls (p less than 0.001 for all comparisons). In complicated diabetics (54 cases) the platelet adhesiveness was 72.33 +/- 5.99% and in uncomplicated diabetics (21 cases) it was 67.33 +/- 5.82% (p less than 0.05). Platelet adhesiveness was significantly reduced after treatment (with insulin it was 62.12 +/- 7.46%, with phenformin 62.10 +/- 8.63 and with tolbutamide 67.12 +/- 7.97%) when compared with pretreatment values. Platelet adhesiveness had no significant correlation with blood sugar and serum cholesterol levels. These results support the concept that platelet adhesiveness is high in diabetes mellitus and is reduced with control of diabetic state after treatment.