[Carotid artery wall changes in young type-1 diabetics. The ultrasonic diagnosis of early arteriosclerosis].

In a prospective study high-resolution ultrasonography was used to document any early carotid-artery wall changes (intima-media thickening; plaques), in 165 type I diabetics up to the age of 40 years (66 males, 99 females; mean age 27.5 +/- 6 years; duration of diabetes > 1 year). In two control groups (group 1: 40 with type I diabetes of up to one year's duration; group 2: 20 healthy subjects) the mean intima-media thickness was 0.50 +/- 0.05 and 0.51 +/- 0.06 mm, respectively (maximal value 0.6 mm). In the patients with a longer duration of diabetes it was significantly higher at 0.56 +/- 0.11 mm (P < 0.001). Of the 165 patients with a diabetes duration of more than 1 year, 134 had normal intima-media wall thickness (< 0.6 mm, mean 0.52 +/- 0.07 [group A]), in 15 (group B) it was 0.75 +/- 0.06 mm, and in 16 (group C) there were plaques with a wall thickness of 0.67 +/- 0.15 mm. The incidence of nephropathy and hypertension or hypercholesterolaemia (only in group C) was significantly higher in groups B and C than A (P < 0.01). It is thus clear that these consequential or associated diseases go together, in young type I diabetics, with an increased risk of early arteriosclerosis.