C-Peptide Is Independently Associated with an Increased Risk of Coronary Artery Disease in T2DM Subjects: A Cross-Sectional Study.

C-peptide has been reported to be a marker of subclinical atherosclerosis in type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) patients, whereas its role in coronary artery disease (CAD) has not been clarified, especially in diabetics with differing body mass indices (BMIs).This cross-sectional study included 501 patients with T2DM. First, all subjects were divided into the following two groups: CAD and non-CAD. Then, binary logistic regression was used to determine the risk factors for CAD for all patients. To clarify the role of obesity, we re-divided all subjects into two additional groups (obese and non-obese) based on BMI. Finally, binary logistic regression was used to determine the risk factors for CAD for each weight group.The patients with CAD showed a higher BMI and fasting C-peptide level in addition to an increased prevalence of traditional risk factors for CAD, such as hypertension, insulin resistance, higher cholesterol, cysteine-C (Cys-C) and lower estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR). Logistic regression analysis showed that fasting C-peptide (OR=1.513, p=0.005), insulin treatment (OR=1.832, p=0.027) hypertension (OR=1.987, p=0.016) and hyperlipidemia (OR=4.159, p