Vascular complications due to atherosclerosis are a major cause of morbidity and mortality in type 2 diabetes mellitus(1). Microalbuminuria now days is considered to be an atherosclerotic risk factor and predicts future cardiovascular complications in diabetic patients, in elderly patients, as well as in the general population(2). Microalbuminuria is associated with cardiovascular mortality and morbidity in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus(3, 4). However, little is known about this association. Specifically, it is not known whether microalbuminuria is related to an early stage of atherosclerosis which manifested radiologically by increased intima-media thickness (IMT) of carotid arteries either common …show more content…
Arterial intima-media thickness measurement obtained by B-mode ultrasound is currently recommended by the American Heart Association as being relatively safe, noninvasive and inexpensive method of assessing subclinical atherosclerosis and being an independent predictor of atherosclerotic events(7).The IMT is significantly higher in diabetic patients than that in nondiabetic patients(8), and the increased IMT can predict future events of silent brain infarction and coronary heart disease in the patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus(9,10). Carotid artery plaque is another marker of systemic subclinical atherosclerosis. But the previous reports showed the inconsistent associations among IMT, plaque, risk factors, and clinical disease(11,12). And which one is a more powerful predictor of vascular outcomes, IMT or plaque, is still in controversy(13). In addition, the reported results of the relationship between microalbuminuria and carotid IMT is also different(14,15). Therefore, in this study, we explore the relationship between microalbuminuria and Carotid Artery Intima-Media Thickness in type 2 Diabetes Mellitus to decide the predictive value of carotid artery intima-media thickness as an index of early