Oxidative stress markers in coronary artery disease patients with diabetes mellitus

Coronary artery disease (CAD) is the major cause of morbidity and mortality. Diabetes is one of the powerful and independent risk factor for CAD. Hyperglycemia and hypercholesterolemia initiate the oxidative stress and complications like atherosclerosis which induces poor prognosis in diabetic CAD patients. The aim of the present study was to assess oxidative stress by comparing the levels of malondialdehyde and comet tail length in diabetic CAD patients, non-diabetic CAD patients and healthy controls. The study included 400 subjects of which 200 were healthy controls, 100 were diabetic CAD patients, and 100 were non-diabetic CAD patients. Fasting and postprandial glucose levels, glycosylated hemoglobin, serum lipid levels, malondialdehyde, and DNA damage were estimated in all subjects by using commercially available kits and standard protocols. FBS (185.60 ± 6.0 mg/dL), PPG (250 ± 7.06 mg/dL), HbA1c (10.65 ± 2.01 %), TC (280.72 ± 5.25 mg/dL), TG (195.11 ± 5.99 mg/dL), LDL (163.28 ± 5.68 mg/dL), MDA (9.74 ± 2.33 n moles/mL), and comet tail length (21.60 ± 5.69 μm) were significantly high in diabetic CAD patients (p < 0.05) compared to non-diabetic CAD patients and controls. Fasting and postprandial blood sugar levels significantly correlated with oxidative stress markers like MDA (r = 0.553, r = 0.557, p < 0.01) and comet tail length (r = 0.489, r = 0.626, p < 0.01) in diabetic CAD patients compared to non-diabetic CAD patients. Our study showed that diabetic CAD patients with increased levels of oxidative stress markers (MDA and DNA damage) might have the poor prognosis than non-diabetic CAD patients.