ABSTRACT
Lipid abnormalities are commonly found in persons with diabetes mellitus but there is paucity of recent literature relating to local incidence. This study aims to evaluate the extent of dyslipidaemia in persons with type 2 diabetes mellitus. A cross sectional study comparing the clinical features and laboratory parameters in 100 persons with type 2 DM and 100 controls in Ahmadu Bello University Teaching Hospital Kaduna is presented. Persons with diabetes had higher body mass indices and waist hip ratio compared to controls. Diabetics had significantly higher [mmol/L] serum total cholesterol 5.10 +/- 0.37 and 5.39 +/- 0.34, LDL-cholesterol 3.17 +/- 0.31 and 3.15 +/- 0.24, triglycerides 1.49 +/- 0.62 and 1.54 +/- 0.25, and lower HDL-cholesterol 0.99 +/- 0.08 and 1.15 +/- 0.10 and higher artherogenic indices 5.47 +/- 0.54 and 5.72 +/- 0.63 for males and females respectively. This study has highlighted the fact that dyslipidaemia exists in our type 2 diabetic population. However, larger studies need to be conducted in the healthy population as well as diabetic subjects in this environment to set a baseline for African patients