Plasma levels of von Willebrand factor in type 2 diabetes patients with and without cardiovascular diseases: A meta‐analysis

Summary Chronic vascular complications are the major causes of death and disability of type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) patients. von Willebrand factor (vWF) is involved in pathogenesis of cardiovascular diseases (CVD). Previous studies showed elevated plasma levels of vWF in T2DM patients with CVD, but the association has not been validated. The aim of this meta‐analysis was to compare plasma levels of vWF in T2DM patients with and without CVD. We performed a meta‐analysis based on published case‐control studies of vWF in T2DM patients with and without CVD indexed in PubMed and other databases updated to April 2018. After independently assessing methodological quality and extracting data, 9 eligible studies were obtained including 576 cases and 632 controls. The standard mean difference (SMD) and 95% confidence intervals (95% CI) were calculated using random‐effects model. Meta‐analysis showed that plasma level of vWF was significantly higher in T2DM patients with CVD than T2DM patients without CVD (SMD = 0.61; 95% CI, 0.32‐0.90; P