Effects of diabetes and obesity on vascular reactivity, inflammatory cytokines, and growth factors.

We examined the influences of obesity and diabetes on endothelium-dependent and -independent vasodilation, inflammatory cytokines, and growth factors. We included 258 subjects, age 21-80 years in four groups matched for age and gender: 40 healthy nonobese (BMI <30 kg·m(-2)) nondiabetic subjects, 76 nonobese diabetic patients, 37 obese (BMI >30) nondiabetic subjects, and 105 obese (BMI >30) diabetic patients. The flow-mediated dilation (FMD, endothelium-dependent) and nitroglycerin-induced dilation (NID, endothelium-independent) in the brachial artery, the vascular reactivity at the forearm skin and serum growth factors and inflammatory cytokines were measured.