Cerebrovascular disease in type 2 diabetic patients without hypertension.

To the Editor: The close relationship between diabetes mellitus and arteriosclerosis of the cerebral arteries has recently been reported. However, in these studies, the subjects included older patients with hypertension, which itself is a significant risk factor for arteriosclerosis of the cerebral arteries.1–3 Thus, previous studies on the effect of diabetes on the development of sclerosis were confounded by hypertension and aging. Therefore, we examined relatively young patients with diabetes mellitus who did not have hypertension in order to clarify the influence of diabetes mellitus itself on the development of sclerosis of the cerebral arteries. The subjects included 30 patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (DM). The subjects with DM did not have hypertension (systolic blood pressure <140 mm Hg, diastolic blood pressure <90 mm Hg) and had no history of cerebral infarction, diabetic retinopathy, diabetic neuropathy, or diabetic nephropathy. Among the 30 diabetic patients, 4 were being treated with insulin injections, 10 with oral hypoglycemic agents, and 16 with dietary therapy alone. The control group (C) consisted of 20 healthy adults without a history of diabetes, hypertension, or cerebral infarction. There were no significant differences in age (DM: 50.1±7.0 years versus C: 49.7±6.7 years), sex (DM: 21/9 versus C: 11/9 [M/F]), systolic blood pressure (DM: 120±11 mm Hg versus C: 117±10 mm Hg) between the …