Platelet Dysfunction in Type-2 Diabetes Mellitus

Abstract

According to the Diabetes Atlas of the World, published by the International Diabetes Federation (IDF Diabetes Atlas, 7th edn, 2015), India has currently, over 70 million subjects with type-2 diabetes and China, 110 million subjects. The number of adults estimated to be living with diabetes has reached 422 million worldwide, nearly four-fold increase from 1980 figures, according to a World Health Organization (WHO) report (2014). Non-communicable Disease Risk Factor Task Force in their article in Lancet (April 2016) summarize, that if the year 2000 trends in prevalence of diabetes continues, It will not be possible to reach the Millennium Goals (www.un.org/millenniumgoals) of keeping the incidence of type-2 diabetes in 2025, at the 2010 level. The collective prediction of this study group has already come true. Patients with type-2 diabetes carry an equivalent or greater cardiovascular risk to that of a non-diabetic, who has already experienced a coronary event. The risk for acute coronary event in this population seems to be 2-3 times higher than non-diabetic subjects. It is a potentially fatal, chronic disease, whose risks can be prevented by better management of known risks and lifestyle changes. Inflammation, oxidative stress, hyperglycemia, endothelial dysfunction, altered hemorheology and hyper-platelet and coagulation activation pathways, seem to contribute significantly to the clinical complications of type-2 diabetes. In this article, we provide a brief overview on, vascular dysfunction, platelet biochemistry, physiology and altered function, as it relates to the clinical complications of adult on-set diabetes.