Association of glycemic variability and time in range with lipid profile in type 1 diabetes

Abstract

Purpose: Hyperglycemia is associated with abnormalities of lipoproteins. The aim of this study was to analyze, in patients with Type 1 Diabetes (T1D), the association of glycemic control with lipid profile, focusing on glycemic variability and time in range obtained from Continuous Glucose Monitoring (CGM). Methods: We performed a retrospective cohort in patients with T1D. We analyzed clinical parameters, HbA1c, CGM and lipid profile in two moments 6 to 18 months apart. We evaluated the association of HbA1c and CGM metrics with lipid profile in cross-sectional (n = 242) and longitudinal (n = 90) analyses. Results: The mean age of the study population was 36.6 ± 12.6 years, 51.7% were male, and the mean diabetes duration was 16.8 ± 10.3 years. In the cross-sectional analysis, higher HbA1c, higher glucose management indicator (GMI), higher time above range and lower time in range were associated with higher triglyceride levels. In the longitudinal analysis, an increase in time below range was associated with a decrease of HDL cholesterol. In both analyses, an increase in the coefficient of variability (CV) was associated with a significant decrease of HDL cholesterol. HbA1c and CGM were not associated with total cholesterol or LDL cholesterol. Conclusions: We observed a negative association between CV and HDL cholesterol levels and a positive association between hyperglycemia metrics and triglyceride levels. These findings suggest that CGM parameters may be a helpful tool to guide the improvement of both glycemic control and lipid profile in T1D.