The effect of obesity on fibrinolytic activity and plasma lipoprotein (a) levels in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus in Korea.

To determine whether previously reported abnormalities in fibrinolytic activity and plasma lipoprotein (a) levels could reflect obesity rather than diabetes per se, plasma concentrations of tissue-type plasminogen activator (t-PA), type 1 plasminogen activator inhibitor (PAI-1), and lipoprotein (a) (Lp (a)) were investigated in sixty-four type 2 diabetic patients (56.1 +/- 9.5 years; body mass index, 24.6 +/- 3.3 kg/m2) and thirty-two control subjects (57.9 +/- 8.9 years; body mass index, 24.6 +/- 3.4 kg/m2). Both the plasma t-PA and PAI-1 antigen levels were similar between the diabetic group (10.6 +/- 3.8 ng/ml; 27.7 +/- 11.6 ng/ml) and the control group (12.2 +/- 3.5 ng/ml; 27.7 +/- 9.6 ng/ml). The PAI-1 levels were evenly distributed from 5.93 to 52.7 ng/ml in diabetic patients. The difference of Lp (a) levels between the two groups was negligible (the diabetic group, median 11 mg/dl (range 0-72 mg/dl); the control group, median 13 mg/dl (range 0-55 mg/dl)). Significant correlations between PAI-1 levels and body mass index (BMI) were observed in both groups. In the diabetic group, PAI-1 levels also correlated with fasting C-peptide levels (r = 0.54, P < 0.01) and serum triglyceride levels (r = 0.28, P < 0.05). However, we could not find a significant association between either t-PA or PAI-1 levels and Lp (a) levels in the diabetic and control groups.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)