Author(s)

Caroline Eickhoff Copetti, Myriam Perreynoud, Melissa Claudia Bisi, Henrique Luiz Staub

Clinical Pathology Laboratory, S?o Lucas Hospital, PUCRS, Porto Alegre, Brazil.
Rheumatology Department, S?o Lucas Hospital, Faculty of Medicine, Pontifical Catholic University of Rio Grande do Sul (PUCRS), Porto Alegre, Brazil.

The relationship of anticardiolipin antibodies (ACA), markers of the antiphospholipid syndrome, with vascular complications of diabetes mellitus is polemic. This cross-sectional study assessed the frequency of IgG, IgM, and IgA ACA in type 2 diabetics with and without history of vascular events for the last 5 years, and in healthy controls. ACA were detected by enzyme immunoassay. A total of 73 type 2 diabetics (33 with history of vascular events) and 54 healthy controls were tested. Most diabetics were female (p = 0.003), and older than controls (p < 0.001). Mean duration of disease was 10 years. The prevalence of a positive ACA test was 7.4% in controls and 9.5% in diabetics (p = 0.910). Comparison of healthy controls and diabetics with and without history of macrovasculopathy, after adjusting for gender and age, showed no significant differences as to the presence of ACA (p > 0.09). ACA positivity rates were also similar when diabetics with and without history of vasculopathy were compared (p > 0.47). After adjusting for gender, age, hypertension, and smoking status, a weak but statistically insignificant association between IgM ACA and diabetics with vasculopathy was found (adjusted OR 2.7; 95% CI 0.2 - 34.2; p = 0.441). Overall, levels of IgG (r = 0.25; p = 0.005) and IgM (r = 0.23; p = 0.010) ACA were associated with increasing age. In short, the frequency of a positive ACA test in type 2 diabetics (with or without previous macrovasculopathy) was not significant as compared to healthy controls. There was no association of ACA with vascular events in patients with type 2 diabetes.

Anticardiolipin Antibodies; Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus; Myocardial Infarction; Cerebrovascular Infarction

Copetti, C. , Perreynoud, M. , Bisi, M. and Staub, H. (2012) Anticardiolipin antibodies do not mediate macrovascular complications of type 2 diabetes. Open Journal of Internal Medicine, 2, 37-39. doi: 10.4236/ojim.2012.21009.