CLINICAL CHARACTERISTICS OF ISCHEMIC STROKE IN PATIENTS WITH DIABETES MELLITUS

To investigate the clinical characteristics of ischemic stroke and its associa- tions with hypertension, obesity, hyperlipidemia, and diabetic microangiopathy in patients with diabetes mellitus, we estimated the average period between onset of diabetes and ischemic stroke, and the incidences of complications. A total of 544 patients with diabetes mellitus who were admitted to our hospital over the past 10 years were analyzed, forty of whom were diabetic patients who suffered ischemic stroke as diagnosed by clinical exami- nation. As controles, 40 subjects matched for sex, age, and duration of diabetes were identified, one for each patient with ischemic stroke. The average period between onset of diabetes and ischemic stroke was significantly shorter for patients with hypertension than for normotensive patients ; however, there were no differences in the length of this period between the groups with and without obesity or hyperlipidemia. Hypertension was present in 63% of patients with ischemic stroke, and the incidence of hypertension was significantly higher in the stroke group than in the control group. There was no difference between the groups with and without ischemic stroke with respect to the incidence of obesity, hyper- lipidemia, retinopathy and nephropathy. We conclude that diabetic patients with hyperten- sion appear to be at high risk for ischemic stroke