Background: Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) is one of the most prevalent diseases in the present century that is associated with various complications, such as cardiovascular diseases, caused by metabolic syndrome in these patients in the long term. We aimed to assess components of metabolic syndrome in patients with controlled and uncontrolled T2DM based on serum levels of hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c).
Methods: In this cross-sectional study, after screening 1158 patients who referred to screening centers, 204 patients with T2DM were identified, and evaluated for anthropometric (weight, height, waist circumference, and body mass index), biochemical (fasting blood sugar [FBS], glucose tolerance test [GTT], lipid profile, and HbA1c) markers, and blood pressure. Patients with HbA1c>7% were considered as uncontrolled diabetes and patients with HbA1c≤7% were considered as controlled diabetes. Independent sample t-test was used for comparing markers between two groups and the association of HbA1c with the markers was checked by Pearson correlation coefficient.
Results: In patients with controlled T2DM, serum FBS (P<0.001), GTT (P<0.001), Triglycerides (P=0.04), total cholesterol (P=0.003) and LDL cholesterol (P=0.001) were significantly lower than patients with uncontrolled T2DM. There was asignificant association between HbA1c and FBS (P=0.03, r=0.15), GTT (P=0.003, r=0.21) and systolic blood pressure (P=0.02, r=0.15).
Conclusion: Appropriate treatment of T2DM, when HbA1c reduced to <7%, would prevent chronic complications of metabolic syndrome and cardiovascular risk factors, such as total and LDL cholesterol.