Improved glycemic control in moderate altitude type II diabetic residents

Exposure to altitude hypoxia may elicit changes in glucose homeostasis. This work is designated to investigate the glycemic control in type II diabetic patients (DMII) permanently resident at moderately high altitude (2400 m), and to investigate whether the arterial oxygen-related parameters are different in DMII patients living at altitude compared to those living at low altitude. Blood glucose, HbA1c, hemoglobin concentration, and hematocrit (HCT) were measured in moderate altitude type II diabetics and compared with both altitude nondiabetics and diabetic patients living at normoxic and normobaric conditions. The data revealed that fasting blood glucose was lower in altitude diabetic patients compared to diabetics living at low altitude (157±33 mg/dL and 176.81±15.98 mg/dL, respectively, p<0.01). Also, glycemic control was improved in altitude diabetic patients, where their HbA1c was lower than the corresponding low altitude diabetic patients (8.68±0.79% and 9.30±1.02% respectively, p<0.01). Low oxygen tension at altitude was compensated in both diabetics and nondiabetics by a significant increase in both hemoglobin and HCT (17.33±0.72 mg/dL and 50.7±2.20%, respectively) compared to the corresponding groups living at low levels (15.53±0.55 mg/dL and 45.8±1.64%, respectively). The underlying disease neither affected the arterial oxygen tension (PaO2) nor oxygen saturation (SaO2), where insignificant correlations were observed between glucose, PaO2 (r=-0.06) and SaO2 (r=-0.2). These results suggest that moderate altitude may improve the glycemic control in type II diabetic patients compared to diabetics living at sea level.