Add-on rosiglitazone therapy improves plasminogen activity and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol in type 2 diabetes mellitus.

Rosiglitazone is an oral hypoglycaemic agent of the thiazolidinedione group. This study aimed to assess changes in the diabetic prothrombotic state via plasminogen activity and changes in surrogate markers of atherosclerotic burden via ankle-brachial pressure index (ABPI) measurements after rosiglitazone was added to a pre-existing type 2 diabetes mellitus treatment regime. A nonblinded interventional study was designed. Fifty-nine patients were enrolled. Rosiglitazone-naïve patients were prescribed oral rosiglitazone 4 mg daily for 10 weeks. ABPI, plasminogen activity, glycosylated haemoglobin (HbA1c) and fasting lipid profile were measured pretreatment and post-treatment. Forty-eight patients completed the study. At the end of this study, mean plasminogen activity improvement was nearly 16% (P<0.05), mean ABPI improvement was 0.01 (P=0.439), mean HbA1c reduction was 0.51% (P<0.05), mean total cholesterol (TC) increase was 0.36 mmol/l (P<0.05), mean high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) increase was 0.15 mmol/l (P<0.05) and mean low-density lipoprotein cholesterol increased by 0.19 mmol/l (P=0.098). Rosiglitazone significantly improved plasminogen activity. There was also significant HbA1c reduction, and rise in both TC and HDL-C. Thus, rosiglitazone potentially improves the atherosclerotic burden and prothrombotic state. In future, more studies are needed to confirm the relationship between rosiglitazone, fibrinolytic system and atheromatous reduction in type 2 diabetes mellitus.