Lipids-Risk Categories in Omani Type 2 Diabetics Impact of the National Cholesterol Educational Program

Objective: to evaluate the impact of the national cholesterol educational program adult treatment panel iii (atp iii) and the framingham offspring study on omani diabetic subjects. methods: 221 subjects with type 2 diabetes (86 females and 135 males) and 156 non-diabetic subjects (70 females and 86 males) aged 30-70 years attending sultan qaboos university hospital between 1999-2002 were recruited. lipid profile, glucose, %hba1c, apoproteina-1 and apoproteinb were measured. low density lipoprotein was calculated using the friedwald formula. atp-iii and framingham offspring study guidelines were used to classify lipid parameters into coronary heart disease-risk categories. results: diabetic compared to non-diabetic subjects had significantly higher triglycerides of >1.7 mmol/l (p=0.01) and lower low density lipoprotein cholesterol of >4.2 mmol/l (p=0.012 ) and, in female subjects only, lower high density lipoprotein cholesterol of <1.15 mmo/l for ( p<0.0001). in addition, 57% of diabetic subjects had abnormal aplipoproteinb of >1.2 g/l compared to 49% of non-diabetic subjects. combined raised levels of triglycerides, apolipoproteinb and low levels of high density lipoprotein were found in 42% of diabetic compared to 26% of the non-diabetic subjects (p=0.05). diabetic subjects had significantly higher (p=0.008) ncep risk-score for coronary artery disease, however, only 34% conformed to a ncep 10-year-risk score of >10%. conclusion: a substantial proportion of the omani diabetic subjects were dyslipidaemic according to the atp iii guidelines. this study recommends the implementation of a lower cut-off threshold for starting lipid-modifying agents for omani diabetics when using the 10-year framingham risk scoring equation.