Abstract

Diabetes mellitus is a major health problem that results in significant morbidity and mortality from such complications as neuropathy, peripheral vascular disease and macrovascular disease. Many of the previous haemostatic studies in diabetic Nigerians focused on platelet count and activity with scanty information on haemorrheologic and fibrinolytic activities. A total of 50 diabetic subjects aged between 35 - 75 years attending the diabetic clinic of University of Calabar Teaching Hospital were selected for the study. 50 age-matched non-diabetic apparently healthy volunteers were used as controls. Fasting blood sugar (FBS), relative plasma viscosity (RPV), plasma fibrinogen concentration (PFC) and euglobulin lysis times (ELT) were estimated using standard methods. There was significant increase in FBS, RPV, PFC and ELT of diabetics when compared with the non-diabetic controls (P < 0.05). The duration of diabetes (< 5 years vs. ≥ 5 years) did not show any statistically significant effect on RPV, PFC and ELT (p > 0.05). It was observed in this study that the diabetic subjects had defective fibrinolysis and hyperviscous plasma as revealed by significantly increased RPV, PFC and prolonged ELT when compared with apparently healthy controls. This shows that the diabetics are prone to developing vascular and thrombotic complications. It may be necessary to incorporate RPV, PFC and ELT as routine tests for better management of these patients.

Key words: Haemorrheologic, fibrinolytic, diabetes mellitus, thrombosis.