Non High-Density Lipoprotein Cholesterol in Type2 Diabetic Patients

Aims: To study the relationship between non high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (non-HDL-C) and metabolic disorders in type2 diabetic patients and to prove the incrimination of non-HDL-C in the genesis of chronic complications of diabetes.

Study Design: Retrospective study.

Place and Duration of Study: Endocrinology-Diabetology Department of Hedi Chaker University Hospital of Sfax for a period of two months, January and February 2020.

Methodology: We included80 type2 diabetic patients (34 men and 46 women; age range: 22-72 years) with metabolic syndrome. Each patient had undergone a complete clinical examination and biochemistry test, then, the non-HDL-C was calculated.

Results: Out of 80 patients, 57 suffered from diabetic complications like micro vascular and macro vascular complications. Unbalanced diabetes was identified in 73.75% of the patients. All the patients had a high level of non-HDL-C.

No significant positive correlation was confirmed between non-HDL-C with body mass index, glycemic parameters, triglycerides, or total cholesterol.

Correlation between the level of non-HDL-C and coronary artery disease, myocardial infarction (MI), and stroke was identified with p values of 0.016, 0.05, and 0.04, respectively.

Patients with microvascular complications had higher levels of non-HDL-C but a positive correlation was only relevant with diabetic nephropathy (p=0.026).

Conclusion: Our study confirmed that non-HDL-C is a simple and reliable indicator of the overall risk of cardiovascular disease, thus, it may be equivalent, if not superior, to low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C). Therefore, it should be our primary lipid treatment target for diabetic patients.