Carotid intima-media thickness and plagues are associated with indicators of peripheral artery diseases in patients with diabetes.
Zhang Y., Peng K., Liu J., Chen X., Wang T., Li M., Chen Y., Xu Y., Lu J., Bi Y., Wang W., Ning G., Xu M.
AIMS: We investigated associations of carotid intima-media thickness (CIMT) and carotid plaque with ankle-brachial index (ABI) and toe-brachial index (TBI) in Chinese adults. METHODS: A cross-sectional analysis was performed in 6688 participants from a well-defined Chinese community. CIMT and carotid plaque was measured with a high-resolution B-mode tomographic ultrasound system. Low ABI was defined as ABI ≤ 0.90. Low TBI was defined as TBI ≤ 0.60. Carotid plaques were classified as normal, homogeneous or heterogeneous according to morphology. RESULTS: After adjusting for age, sex and body mass index, each 0.10 mm CIMT increase was associated with 0.0123 unit decrease in TBI (P = 0.004) and 0.0063 in ABI (P = 0.04) in patients with diabetes. After further adjustments for waist circumference, smoking and drinking habits, hypertension, lipids and hemoglobin A1c, the associations between CIMT and TBI remained significant; while those with ABI were disappeared. Meanwhile, each 0.10 mm increment of CIMT or rank of carotid plaque morphology was associated with a risk of presence of low TBI (CIMT: odds ratio: 1.21, 95% confidence interval: 1.05-1.40; carotid plaque morphology: 1.45, 1.01-2.08) in patients with diabetes after adjustments. However, no associations were found between CIMT or carotid plaque morphology and TBI or ABI in non-diabetic participants. CONCLUSIONS: CIMT and carotid plaque morphology were significantly associated with TBI in patients with diabetes.