Background: The growth rate of abdominal aortic aneurysms (AAA) can vary depending on age, baseline diameter, blood pressure, race, and history of smoking. Paradoxically, previous studies show evidence of a protective effect of diabetes on the rate of AAA expansion despite its well-established role in the morbidity and mortality of cardiovascular disease. This study aims to investigate the impact diabetes plays on AAA growth within a Hispanic population.
Methods: Data were collected from patients who were predominantly Mexican-American at a single hospital site. Baseline and follow-up measures for AAA diameter were obtained from serial imaging studies. Demographics, medical history, the presence of type 2 diabetes, and medication use were extracted from hospital records. Linear mixed-effects growth models were used to calculate the overall AAA growth rate and to assess the difference in AAA growth rate between demographics, comorbidities, and medication use.
Results: The study comprised 201 patients (70.4% male) with a mean baseline age of 79.1 years, of whom 43.2% were diabetic. The average monthly AAA growth rate across all study participants was 0.15 mm (SE = 0.02 mm). Independently, the average AAA expansion rate for the diabetic and nondiabetic groups was 0.07 mm (SE = 0.04 mm) and 0.21 mm (SE = 0.03 mm) per month, respectively. This demonstrates a 65% lower linear AAA expansion rate per month in patients with diabetes.
Conclusions: This study confirms a difference of AAA physiology between diabetics and nondiabetics in the Hispanic community. The observed significant difference in AAA growth rate may be a combination of factors associated with race/ethnicity, prevalence of diabetes mellitus, and low compliance with diabetic control exhibited in the Mexican-American population.
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