Associations between intensive diabetes therapy and NMR-determined lipoprotein subclass profiles in type 1 diabetes

Our objective is to define differences in circulating lipoprotein subclasses between intensive versus conventional management of type 1 diabetes during the randomization phase of the Diabetes Control and Complications Trial (DCCT). NMR-determined lipoprotein subclass profiles (NMR-LSPs), which estimate molar subclass concentrations and mean particle diameters, were determined in 1,294 DCCT subjects after a median of 5 years (interquartile range: 4-6 years) of randomization to intensive or conventional diabetes management. In cross-sectional analyses, we compared standard lipids and NMR-LSPs between treatment groups. Standard total, LDL, and HDL cholesterol levels were similar between randomization groups, while triglyceride levels were lower in the intensively treated group. NMR-LSPs showed that intensive therapy was associated with larger LDL diameter (20.7 vs. 20.6 nm, P = 0.01) and lower levels of small LDL (median: 465 vs. 552 nmol/l, P = 0.007), total IDL/LDL (mean: 1,000 vs. 1,053 nmol/l, P = 0.01), and small HDL (mean: 17.3 vs. 18.6 μmol/l, P