ABSTRACT
Objective:To investigate the correlation between serum complement C1q/tumor necrosis factor associated protein 3 (CTRP3) and carotid atherosclerosis in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) and nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD).Methods:From January 2018 to December 2019, 111 T2DM patients hospitalized in the Endocrinology Department of Nantong Third People ′s Hospital Affiliated to Nantong University, and 30 healthy physical examiners in the physical examination center of Nantong Third People 's Hospital Affiliated to Nantong University in the same period were selected. Thirty cases of healthy physical examination were the control group, 111 cases of T2DM were divided into 52 cases of T2DM group and 59 cases of T2DM+NAFLD group according to whether they were combined with NAFLD. The cross-sectional study method was used to collect the relevant clinical data of three groups. The comparison data between multiple groups conformed to the normal distribution and the variance was uniform. One way ANOVA was used. SNK- q test was used for pairwise comparison, χ2 test for qualitative data comparison. The correlation between carotid intima-media thickness (IMT) and influencing factors was analyzed by partial correlation analysis, and the influencing factors of carotid IMT were analyzed by multi factor linear regression. Results:In the control group, T2DM group and T2DM+NAFLD group, body mass index (BMI) (23.65±2.81), (25.52±3.12), (24.90±2.94) kg/m 2,systolic blood pressure (119.43±15.81), (130.63±10.20), (139.37±14.11) mmHg, diastolic blood pressure (72.93±9.74), (73.40±9.44), (77.97±10.00) mmHg, and fasting blood glucose (5.12±0.77), (9.78±1.37), (9.24±1.46) mmol/L,glycosylated hemoglobin (HbA1c) (4.87±1.43)%, (7.99±1.10)%, (8.56±1.29)%,homeostasis model assessment of insulin resistance (HOMA-IR)(1.56±0.37),(2.80±1.00), (3.47±0.94), high density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) (1.52±0.34),(1.23±0.31), (1.22±0.31) mmol/L,low density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) (2.41±0.53), (2.73±0.61), (2.93±0.59) mmol/L, CTRP3 (292.93±68.54), (241.69±61.01), (150.80±56.67) μg/L, the difference between groups were statistically significant ( F=3.712,23.023,4.074,134.285,90.818,47.105,10.139,7.941,60.035,all P<0.05). Pairwise comparison shows that the systolic blood pressure, diastolic blood pressure, HbA1c and HOMA-IR in T2DM+NAFLD group were higher than those in control group and T2DM group,and CTRP3 was lower than those in control group and T2DM group, the difference was statistically significant (all P<0.05). BMI, fasting blood glucose, HbA1c, HOMA-IR, HDL-C and LDL-C in T2DM group were higher than those in the control group, CTRP3 was lower than that in the control group (all P<0.05). In the control group, T2DM group and T2DM+NAFLD group, IMT were (0.75±0.13), (1.11±0.17) and (1.25±0.15) cm; Crouse scores were (1.28±0.97), (3.22±1.42) and (4.54±1.22); the plaque detection rates 16.7%(5/30), 65.4%(34/52) and 78.0%(46/59), and there were significant differences between the two groups ( F=105.941,67.063, χ2=32.108, all P<0.001). There were significant differences between the two groups (all P<0.05). T2DM+NAFLD group was the highest, followed by T2DM group, and the control group was the lowest. Partial correlation analysis showed that carotid IMT was positively correlated with systolic blood pressure, fasting blood glucose, HbA1c, HOMA-IR, triglyceride and LDL-C ( r=0.356, 0.572, 0.575, 0.620, 0.172, 0.291, all P<0.05), and negatively correlated with HDL-C and CTRP3 ( r=-0.335, -0.675, all P<0.001). Multivariate linear regression analysis showed that HbA1c, HDL-C and ctrp3 were the influencing factors of carotid atherosclerosis ( t=2.621, -3.764, -7.280, all P<0.05) Conclusion:Serum CTRP3 is associated with carotid atherosclerosis in T2DM patients with NAFLD,and may have a protective effect on vascular lesions in T2DM patients with NAFLD.