Iraqi Postgraduate Medical Journal

Abstract

ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND:
Diabetes Mellitus is the most common endocrine-metabolic disease in children. Diabetic patients with hyperlipidemia frequently develop atherosclerosis which is an important cause of morbidity and mortality.
OBJECTIVE:
The aim of this study was to evaluate serum lipids total serum cholesterol, total serum triglyceride (TGs), High density lipoprotein (HDL-C), Low density lipoprotein (LDL-C) and very low density lipoprotein (VLDL-C) in children with type-1 diabetes mellitus in comparison with controls, and to determine the relationship of lipid profile with gender, body mass index (BMI) and duration of diabetes among patients.
METHODS:
In this case-control study, the lipid profiles of 52 patients aged 6-18 years (27 males 25 females) with established type 1 diabetes were compared with those of 52 healthy controls of the same age and gender from the first of December 2007 to the 29th of February 2008.
RESULTS:
The lipid profiles of patients with type 1 diabetes mellitus showed the following values, the mean total serum cholesterol 175 ± 55 mg/dl, total serum TGs 140 ± 135 mg/dl, HDL-C 59 ± 19 mg/dl, LDL-C 93 ± 51 mg/dl and that of VLDL-C 23 ± 13 mg/dl, whereas for the controls they were 136 ± 34 mg/dl, 74 ± 25 mg/dl, 53 ± 15 mg/dl, 68 ± 30 mg/dl and 15 ± 5 mg/dl respectively.
CONCLUSION:
The abnormalities in lipid profile regarding total serum cholesterol, total serum TGs, LDL-C and VLDL-C showed that they were significantly higher in diabetic patients than in control group, while HDL-C although it was higher among diabetic patients, but it was not statistically significant. Total serum TGs was significantly increased with the duration of diabetes.