Abstract: The purpose was to study the relationship between chronic macrovascular complication and von Willebrand factor (vWF) level in type 2 diabetic patients. 106 type 2 diabetic patients hospitalized were included in our study and divided into two groups. Group A: 53 type 2 diabetic patients without any vascular complications, Group B: 53 patients with macrovascular complication. The age-matched control group consisted of 56 healthy subjects. In this trial, the plasma vWF level was measured by peroxidase enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay, the other data related to diabetic macrovascular complications were also analyzed, such as systolic blood pressure, diastolic blood pressure, urinary albumin excretion rate and glycosylated hemoglobin, etc. The plasma vWF levels were significantly higher in diabetic patients than age-matched control subjects(P<0.01); the plasma vWF level in patients with macrovascular complication group rose significantly compared with control subjects and patients without macrovascular complication respectively (P<0.01). Multiple regression analysis disclosed that low-density lipoprotein (LDL), glycosylated hemoglobin, logarithm of UAER and systolic blood pressure were the primary factors which cause vWF rose up. It suggests that there is endothelial cell damage in diabetic macrovascular complication.

Key words: diabetes mellitus type 2, von Willebrand factor, urinary albumin excretion rate, hypertention, coronary heart disease