Effects of hypolipidemic and hypoglycemic agents on atherogenic small, dense LDL in Type 2 diabetes

Type 2 diabetes is associated with a cluster of inter-related plasma lipid and lipoprotein abnormalities, including reduced HDL-C, a predominance of small, dense LDL and elevated triglycerides. These abnormalities occur even in prediabetes, before blood sugars rise sufficiently in order to confirm a diagnosis of diabetes, and this transition phase incurs important cardiovascular risk. This is the rationale for paying attention to dyslipidemia through the use of the hypolipidemic, rather than hypoglycemic drugs only. A literature search (by Medline and Scopus) was performed. The authors also manually reviewed the references of selected articles for any pertinent material. Beyond the ‘quantit…