Aims/hypothesis: Previous studies have shown an inverse association between soluble thrombomodulin (sTM) and incident CHD, but there is a lack of data on the association between sTM and type 2 diabetes. Since CHD and type 2 diabetes share many risk factors, the aim of this study was to assess whether elevated sTM levels are associated with a lower incidence of type 2 diabetes.
Materials and methods: A case-cohort study was performed in initially healthy middle-aged men and women based on data from the Monitoring of Trends and Determinants in Cardiovascular Disease/Cooperative Health Research in the Region of Augsburg (MONICA/KORA) studies conducted between 1984 and 1998. Levels of sTM were measured with an ELISA in serum samples from 138 men and 86 women who developed type 2 diabetes during follow-up (cases) and 534 men and 446 women who did not develop type 2 diabetes (non-cases).
Results: An inverse association was found between sTM and type 2 diabetes risk after multivariable adjustment for diabetes risk factors, including several other markers of inflammation and endothelial dysfunction. Markers of inflammation and endothelial dysfunction were particularly strong confounders of the observed association. In the fully adjusted model, a 1 SD increase in sTM was associated with a 27% decrease in the risk of type 2 diabetes (hazard ratio=0.73, 95% CI 0.58-0.91) in the total study population. We did not observe significant risk differences between men and women.
Conclusions/interpretation: These data suggest that, in initially healthy middle-aged men and women, levels of sTM are inversely associated with the risk of type 2 diabetes.