Diabetes and CAD

NEW YORK, July 25 (Praxis Press) Risk factors such as smoking and hypertension explain much of the excess risk for coronary artery disease (CAD) produced by type 2 diabetes, but nontraditional factors such as albumin, fibrinogen, factor VIII, and von Willebrand factor may also increase CAD risk. To examine this relationship, Saito and colleagues performed a prospective cohort study of 1,676 middle-aged persons who had diabetes but no history of prevalent CAD. They recorded multiple risk factors at baseline and followed the patients from 1987 through 1995. They found that 186 participants developed incident coronary artery disease events during follow-up and after adjusting for traditional CAD risk factors, only levels of albumin, fibrinogen, von Willebrand factor, factor VIII activity, and leukocyte count remained independently associated with coronary artery disease. Non-traditional factors such as levels of albumin, fibrinogen, may increase the risk of CAD in patients with diabetes.