Coronary microvascular dysfunction is associated with poor glycemic control amongst female diabetics with chest pain and non-obstructive coronary artery disease

Background Patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus are at an increased risk of adverse cardiovascular events compared to those without diabetes. The timing, relative to disease onset, and degree of glycemic control that reduces the risk of adverse cardiovascular events remains uncertain. Coronary microvascular dysfunction is prevalent in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus and is linked to adverse cardiovascular events. We assessed the association between endothelial-dependent and endothelial-independent coronary microvascular dysfunction and glycemic control in patients presenting with chest pain and nonobstructive coronary disease at angiography. Methods Patients presenting with chest pain and found to have non-obstructive CAD (stenosis 140 mg/dL was significantly associated with an abnormal CFRAdn Ratio, 4.28 (1.43–12.81). Conclusion Poor glycemic control is associated with coronary microvascular dysfunction amongst female diabetics presenting with chest pain and non-obstructive CAD. These findings highlight the importance of sex specific risk stratification models and treatment strategies when managing cardiovascular risk amongst diabetics. Further studies are required to identify additional risk prevention tools and therapies targeting microvascular dysfunction as an integrated index of cardiovascular risk. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (10.1186/s12933-019-0833-1) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.