Abstract

Background: The prediabetic state with impaired fasting glucose level (IFG) is one of the risk factors for endothelial dysfunction leading to atherosclerosis. Pulse wave velocity is an effective index of arterial stiffness and is widely used for noninvasive assessment of atherosclerosis. Aims and Objectives: To assess the usefulness of pulse wave velocity (PWV) as an indicatorofatherosclerosisinIFG.AlsotocomparePWVvaluesinsubjectswithIFGandthosewithnormalfastingglucose(NFG) levelsandtocorrelatethePWVvalueswiththefastingglucoselevels.MaterialsandMethods:Twohundredmalesubjectswere involved in the study. Group 1 comprised subjects with IFG (n=100).Group2comprisedsubjectswithNFG(n = 100). Both the groups were evaluated for physiological parameters-Blood pressure and brachial-ankle pulse wave velocity (ba-PWV) using PeriScope. The biochemical parameters such as fasting blood glucose, HbA1c, and lipid profile were also measured. Statistical analysis was done using SPSS-19 software. All parameters were compared using unpaired Student’s t-test. Pearson correlation analysis was done to establish the relationship between two variables.
Results: Significant differences were found between the ± ± ba-PWV values in the IFG and NFG groups (1549.5 60.5 cm/s vs 1351.7 44.0 cm/s, po 0.05). There was also significant positivecorrelation(r=0.88)betweenba-PWVvalueandfastingglucoselevel.ThemultipleregressionanalysisshowedthatIFG level is an independent risk factor for increased ba-PWV levels. Conclusion: Our study showed that ba-PWV can be used as an indicator to detect the early development of atherosclerosis in subjects with IFG levels.