Relation between liver, kidney function, and lipid profile in glycaemic control among type 2 diabetic patients in Al Baha City

Abstract

Background: Every year the incidence of type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) rises, bringing with it a greater health and financial burden. It is still challenging for diabetics to achieve glycaemic control, with only 9–15% reaching the ideal glucose level. Previous studies have discussed the influence of and correlation between glycated haemoglobin levels and kidney and liver profile functions. This study aimed to assess whether lipid irregularities and liver profile function are associated with high hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c) in T2DM and demonstrate the variation in vital organ parameters between diabetic and nondiabetic patients. Methods: This retrospective observational study, comprising 129 diabetic patients and 130 non-diabetic patients, was conducted at King Fahd Hospital in Saudi Arabia. Data including kidney and liver parameters and glycated haemoglobin were obtained from the patients’ records after ethical approval was received from the King Fahd Hospital Ethical Committee. Results: Ferritin, blood urea, creatinine, alanine transaminase (ALT), and triacylglycerides (TGs) showed significantly greater levels in diabetic than nondiabetic patients, whereas uric acid (P=0.01), albumin (P=0.002), and alkaline phosphatase (ALP) (P<0.001) were significantly lower in the diabetic patient group. Glycated haemoglobin showed positive and negative correlations with cholesterol and uric acid, respectively. Overall, the results of this study highlight the significant association between glycated haemoglobin level and the parameters reflecting the function of vital organs, which will give insight into the role of glycated haemoglobin levels in diabetic and nondiabetic patients. Conclusions: A significant increase in kidney profile parameters in diabetic patients, such as uric acid (P=0.01), urea (P=0.001), and creatinine (P<0.001), was seen, which could lead to diabetic kidney disease. In addition, HbA1c showed a positive correlation with uric acid (P=0.007) and cholesterol (P=0.01) in diabetic patients. The results of this work highlight the critical relation between poor glycaemic control and increasing the parameters of glycated haemoglobin in the function of vital organs, such as the kidney. These findings give insight into the need to regularly investigate the glycated haemoglobin level in prediabetics and diabetic patients in terms of lipid, liver, and kidney profile reading.