A Pilot Study on Co-relation between Inflammatory Markers with Ankle Brachial Index in Patients with Type 2 Diabetes in North Indian Population.

Saba Noor, Jamal Ahmad, Iqbal Parwez

An increasing body of evidence supports the concept that inflammation plays a major role in the development and progression of atherosclerosis which in lower extremities leads to peripheral vascular disease. We hypothesized that inflammatory markers, WBCs, neutrophils, IL-6 and TNF-α would be associated with ABI, a hallmark of atherosclerotic burden.

Research designs and methods: Among 60 type 2 diabetic patients, 35 were diagnosed for PVD (ABI ≤0.9), mean age 51.58±11.38 yrs, and 25 were without PVD (ABI >0.9), mean age 54.66±6.52 yrs. Serum concentrations of IL-6 and TNF-α were determined by enzyme linked immuno-sorbent assay.

Results: ABI was lower in PVD patients then without PVD (0.677±0.13 v/s 1.27±0.41, p<0.001, respectively). By linear regression analysis, TNF-α and IL-6 were significantly co-related with ABI in an inverse manner (β= -0.006, p= 0.030, β= -0.005, p= 0.018) respectively. There was no significant co-relation of ABI with WBCs and neutrophils.

Conclusion: ABI was strongly associated with PVD in type 2 diabetic patients. This study demonstrated that ABI was associated with IL-6 and TNF-α concentration with an inverse pattern making them prominent markers of inflammatory cascade involved in atherosclerosis.