Relationship between metabolic control and HDL2-cholesterol in type I diabetic patients

The relationship of the degree of metabolic control to the serum lipoprotein pattern has been studied in 62 young insulin treated diabetic patients. Stable HbA1 and 24-h mean blood glucose, but not daily insulin dosage, were positively correlated to VLDL-TG (p less than 0.001) and negatively correlated to HDL2-C (p less than 0.05). HDL2-C was higher in patients with HbA1 less than 10% than in patients with HbA1 greater than 10%. In 13 patients, in whom an improvement of metabolic control was achieved, a significant increase of HDL2-C was recorded after three months. Our data are consistent with the view that in insulin-treated patients, good metabolic control is associated with low VLDL-TG and high HDL2-C levels.