Objective To investigate the gender difference of impaired coronary flow reserve (CFR) in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus.

Methods A total of 201 patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (excluding patients with obstructive coronary heart disease) were selected as research objects, and divided into male group (n=97) and female group (n=104).Differences in CFR and clinical indexs of the two groups were analyzed; the risk factors of CFR in type 2 diabetes patients were analyzed by multivariate Logistic analysis; the correlations between clinical indicators and CFR were evaluated by Pearson linear correlation analysis.

Results CFR of the female group was significantly lower than that of the male group, and plasma aldosterone level as well as ratio of peak flow velocity in early diastolic mitral orifice to peak flow velocity in early diastolic mitral annulus doppler tissue (E/e') were significantly higher than those of the male group (P < 0.05).Female is risk factor associated with CFR in diabetes (OR=3.219, P=0.018), while low aldosterone level and low E/e'were protective factors associated with CFR in diabetes (OR=0.568, P=0.032;OR=0.372, P=0.012).Plasma aldosterone level was negatively correlated with CFR (OR=-0.683, P=0.035), E/e'was negatively correlated with CFR (OR=-0.751, P=0.023).

Conclusion CFR is significantly impaired in female patients with type 2 diabetes than in males, and the increase of plasma aldosterone level and E/e'in females may be one of causes of CFR impairment in female.