Background: Pulmonary embolism is a clinical manifestation of venous thromboembolism (VTE), also comprising deep vein thrombosis. It is considered to be a consequence of environmental and genetic factors. The number of predisposing risk factors is high. Some authors view VTE as a part of the cardiovascular disease continuum and suggest that cardiovascular disease risk factors such as the metabolic syndrome or diabetes mellitus may predispose to VTE.
Aim: The analysis of patients hospitalized in the department of cardiology due to pulmonary embolism and a multifactorial comparison of 2 groups of patients i.e. with and without diabetes mellitus.
Patients and methods: A retrospective analysis of 11435 patient medical records from a 7-year period was performed. Patients with confirmed pulmonary embolism were enrolled for further evaluation. Sixty seven patients (36 women and 31 men), aged 70.3±13.3 (age range: 30- 93) were divided into two groups i.e. patients with and without diabetes. The statistical analysis of the obtained results was performed using SPSS 21 Software.
Results: Statistically significantly higher total, LDL, and HDL cholesterol concentrations were observed in patients without diagnosed diabetes. Similar significant differences were not observed for other cardiovascular risk factors except for hypertension and obesity which was more frequent in diabetic patients.
Conclusions: In patients with pulmonary embolism the prevalence of diabetes was related to lower total, LDL and HDL cholesterol concentrations. The differences between the groups may be explained by more intensive medical surveillance in patients with previously diagnosed diabetes.