CORRELATION OF VITAMIN C WITH HbA1C AND OXIDATIVE STRESS IN DIABETES MELLITUS WITH OR WITHOUT NEPHROPATHY

Introduction: Hyperglycemia has generally been considered as the key initiator of kidney damage associated with diabetic nephropathy. Impaired antioxidant defense mechanism with increase oxidative stress has been proposed as the root cause underlying development of insulin resistance, beta cell dysfunction and type II DM. Methods: Present study compared the oxidant and antioxidant levels in type II diabetes mellitus with nephropathy to without nephropathy. 157 patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus with nephropathy (DN) and 162 patients of type 2 diabetes mellitus without nephropathy (DM) along with 165 unrelated age and sex matched healthy controls were included in study. Results: An inverse relationship was observed of HbA1c with vitamin C and superoxide dismutase (SOD) levels in DM and DN groups. A significant inverse relationship was also observed between Vitamin C and malondialdehyde (MDA) levels in all the three groups. When comparing the levels of vitamin C and SOD in all the groups we observed the lowest concentration in DN group followed by DM and control groups. Oxidative stress was found increased in DN group as compared to DM and control groups as highest concentration of MDA levels were observed in this group. Multinomial logistic regression showed none of the variable independently associated with diabetic nephropathy. Conclusion: There is an imbalance between the oxidative stress and antioxidants in diabetes mellitus with and without nephropathy as compared to healthy groups.