Evaluation of microvascular complications in patients with new diagnosis type 2 diabetes

The incidence of microvascular complications such as diabetic retinopathy, diabetic nephropathy and diabetic neuropathy has increased in newly diagnosed diabetes patients. The aim of this study was to determine the factors affecting the incidence of microvascular complications in newly diagnosed patients with type 2 diabetes.

This study was conducted on 97 newly diagnosed type 2 DM patients who applied to Malatya Training and Research Hospital Endocrinology outpatient clinic between September 2021 and July 2022. The patient files were reviewed retrospectively and their age, height, weight, body mass index (BMI), fasting/postprandial blood glucose measurements, serum HDL cholesterol, LDL cholesterol, total cholesterol, triglyceride, HbA1c levels, glomerular filtration rate (GFR) and complications of retinopathy, nephropathy, and neuropathy were recorded. Mann-Whitney U, t-test, Kruskal-Wallis, Binary logistic regression analysis, and Chi-square analysis were used to analyze the data.

The mean age of the patients included in the study was 47.40±7.78 (min: 23 - max: 62). Non-proliferative retinopathy was observed in 74.2% of patients, proliferative retinopathy in 25.8%, diffuse neuropathy in 49.5% and mononeuropathy was detected in 9.3% of them. Fasting blood glucose, postprandial blood glucose and HbA1c values were found to be higher in patients with proliferative retinopathy than in patients without retinopathy. Fasting blood glucose, postprandial blood glucose and HbA1c values were found to be higher in patients with neuropathy than in patients without neuropathy. In addition, patients with mononeuropathy had statistically significantly higher HbA1c values than patients with diffuse-type neuropathy. It was found that the urine protein values of patients with mononeuropathy were significantly higher than those without neuropathy and those with diffuse neuropathy. Each 0.677-unit increase in HbA1c increases the risk of proliferative retinopathy 1.98-fold, and every 1.018-unit increase increases the risk of neuropathy 2.76-fold. Proliferative retinopathy and mononeuropathy rates were discovered to be higher in patients with a family history.

Microvascular complications are common in newly diagnosed T2DM patients and an increase in HbA1c is a significant risk factor. Every newly diagnosed T2DM patient should be screened for microvascular complications.