Evaluation of blood glucose levels and glycated hemoglobin in newly diagnosed type 2 Diabetes Mellitus without complications

Diabetes mellitus is not one disease, but rather is a heterogeneous group of multifactorial, polygenic syndromes characterized by an elevated fasting blood glucose (FBG) caused by a relative or absolute deficiency in insulin [1]. Excess circulating glucose in diabetes is a reactant molecule, involved in the glycosylation of various biomolecules like haemoglobin [2]. Glycated haemoglobin (HbA1c) is formed in a nonenzymatic glycation pathway by hemoglobin's exposure to plasma glucose and binding to the N-terminal of valine of β chain of haemoglobin [3]. Level of glycated haemoglobin (Hb) depends upon lifespan of Red blood cell (average 120 days) and the blood glucose concentration. Glycated haemoglobin (HbA1c) expressed as a % of total blood haemoglobin concentration gives a good retrospective assessment of the mean plasma glucose concentration during the preceding 6-8 weeks [2,4]. Studies on chronic complications of diabetes established the role of glycated haemoglobin (HbA1c) as a marker of evaluation of long term glycemic control and risk for chronic complications [5]. Since fluctuations of fasting plasma glucose (FPG) and postprandial plasma glucose (PPPG) could Introduction: Diabetes mellitus is not one disease, but rather is a heterogeneous group of multifactorial, polygenic syndromes characterized by an elevated fasting blood glucose (FBG) caused by a relative or absolute deficiency in insulin. Objective: The main objective of this study was to assess the relationship between blood glucose levels and HbA1c in control and newly diagnosed diabetic patients without complications. Methods. The present study was conducted on 75 newly diagnosed type 2 Diabetes mellitus patients (female25, male50) and the control group consisted of 60 healthy individuals (female-24, male-36). Blood samples were collected in plain vacutainers without any anticoagulant and whole blood collected with EDTA from diabetic patients and control subjects for the estimation of various biochemical parameters. Blood glucose estimation was done by GOD-POD method and HbA1c, creatinine, urea, total protein and albumin were estimated by kit method (ERBA diagnostics Mannheim GmbH). Statistical analysis was done by unpaired t-test and Pearson correlation coefficient. Results: FBS (148.60 ± 7.8), PPBS (193.92 ± 12.30) mg/dl and HbA1c (6.51 ± 0.85) % was significantly higher in type 2 diabetes patients (p<0.0001) as compared to control subjects FBS (95.23 ± 6.3), PPBS (121.35 ± 9.50) mg/dl and HbA1c (4.58 ± 0.32) % (p<0.0001). FBS was found to be highly correlated (r=0.774, p<0.001) with HbA1c as compared to PPBS (r=0.427, p<0.05) in newly diagnosed diabetic patients. Conclusions: Our study showed that FBS is highly correlated to HbA1c as compared to PPBS.