In 185 patients with type 2 diabetes who were looked after by general practitioners who had attended a postgraduate course in diabetology, the possibilities of detection of macroangiopat- hies using clinical examination and available equipment were investigated. The observation is based on 185 middle-aged obese patients (BMI = 30.5 kg/m 2 ) with a slight (9%) predominance of women. The relatively poor clinical symptomatology was in contrast to a 34% prevalence of ischaemic changes on the ECG and reduced indexes of the ankle pressures (ABP < 1) in 36% of the examined subjects. Assessment of the ankle pressures (by means of an ultrasound detector) may prove important not only for the individual prognosis but it is also evidence of the risk of diabetic patients regardless of the type of treatment (65% dietetic treatment, 35% PAD) and the level of glycated haemoglobin (HbAlc).

        Key words: diabetes type 2 - macroangiopathy - primary care.v