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CA 19-9 level in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus and its relation to the metabolic control and microvascular
Kamile Gul1, Sevinc Nas, Didem Ozdemir
1Department of Endocrinology and Metabolism, Ankara Ataturk Education and Research Hospital, Bilkent, Turkey. kamilegul@yahoo.com
Introduction:
The aim of this study is to compare CA 19-9 levels in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (DM) and healthy control group. The relation of CA 19-9 levels to metabolic control and microvascular complications in patients with diabetes was also investigated.
Methods:
Three hundred forty patients with type 2 DM and age-, sex- and body mass index-matched 214 healthy controls group were included in the study. HbA₁(c), duration of DM and microvascular complications of DM were reviewed. CA 19-9 levels (normal range, 0-35 U/mL) were measured in all participants.
Results:
Median CA 19-9 level was significantly higher in patients with diabetes compared with control group [19.5 U/mL (0-214.8 U/mL) versus 7.4 U/mL (0.4-47.0 U/mL)] (P < 0.001). Prevalence of high CA 19-9 levels in patients with diabetes was 31.2%, and CA 19-9 level was positively correlated with age, duration of diabetes, HbA₁(c) and number of complications. Effects of duration of diabetes, HbA₁(c) and diabetic nephropathy were still continuing in multiple linear regression analysis. Using regression coefficients of all variables in multiple regression analysis, this study tried to determine a new cutoff value for CA 19-9 level in patients with diabetes. The cutoff value at 97th percentile was 57.14 U/mL.
Conclusions:
High CA 19-9 value in patients with diabetes may indicate the need for a careful evaluation of blood glucose regulation and investigation of complications. Defining a new cutoff value in these patients would prevent unnecessary laboratory or imaging procedures.
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