Assessment of serum lipids in Nigerians with type 2 diabetes mellitus complications

Objective: To assess the serum lipids and lipoprotein cholesterol in patients with complicated type 2 Diabetes Mellitus (DM): Hypertensive diabetics and diabetic nephropathy. Methodology: This is a cross-sectional study. A total of 52 type 2 DM patients and 20 healthy controls were studied. The patients' population consisted of 23 normotensive diabetics, 16 hypertensive diabetics and 13 patients with diabetic nephropathy. The serum total cholesterol, HDL-cholesterol and triglycerides were assayed in patients and controls, using standardized assay methods. Results: The mean serum total cholesterol was higher in patients than controls. The normotensive diabetic patients had the lowest total cholesterol among the patients' groups 4.01±0.82 mmol/L compared to the hypertensive diabetics 6.01±0.93 mmol/L and the diabetic nephropathy patients 6.90±1.20 mmol/L, (P <0.0001). The prevalence of dyslipidaemia in the patients was between 25%-69%, lowest in the normotensive diabetics and highest in the diabetic nephropathy patients. Conclusion: We hope that these findings will draw specific attention to the management of dyslipidaemia in patients with complicated type 2 DM especially diabetic nephropathy and hypertensive diabetics.