Effect of hypoglycemic drugs on aspirin resistance in patients with diabetes mellitus

Z. Ariturk, Y. Islamoglu, H. Cil, E. Tekbas, S. Soydinc, H. Kaya, M.A. Elbey

Department of Cardiology, Medicine Faculty, Dicle University Diyarbakir (Turkey)

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• Internal Medicine

BACKGROUND: Aspirin reduces the odds of an arterial thrombotic event in high-risk patients. However, 10%-20% of patients with an arterial thrombotic event who are treated with aspirin have a recurrent arterial thrombotic event during long-term followup. Aspirin resistance has been described in some patient populations such as those with an acute coronary syndrome, ischemic stroke, percutaneous coronary intervention with drug-eluting stent, stent re-stenosis, and diabetes mellitus (DM). The aim of this study was to assess aspirin resistance and to compare it to the use of oral anti-diabetic drugs and insulin in patients with diabetes.

METHODS AND RESULTS: Platelet aggregation was measured after aspirin treatment in 101 diabetic patients undergoing percutaneous coronary intervention. Two patient populations were included in the investigation: use of insulin (group 1) and use of oral anti-diabetic agents (OAD) (group 2) in diabetic patients. Platelet aggregation was determined using a multichannel Multiplate analyzer. Among group 1 patients, 4.7% were aspirin non-responders and among group 2 patients, 8.6% were aspirin non-responders. Statistical differences were not found between the groups (p = 0.359).

CONCLUSIONS: This study demonstrated that there was no significant difference in aspirin resistance between type 2 diabetes mellitus patients on insulin treatment and type 2 diabetes mellitus patients on OAD treatment.

Corresponding Author: Zuhal Ariturk, MD; e-mail: zariturk@yahoo.com