Searchable abstracts of presentations at key conferences in endocrinology
Endocrine Abstracts (2016) 41 GP85 | DOI: 10.1530/endoabs.41.GP85

ECE2016 Guided Posters Diabetes (1) (10 abstracts)

Impaired RBC deformability is associated with pancreatic beta cell dysfunction and diabetic retinopathy in patients with type 2 diabetes

Ji Sung Yoon 1 , Ho Jin Kim 1 , Jun Sung Moon 1 , Ji Eun Lee 2 , Kyu Chang Won 1 & Hyoung Woo Lee 1


1Department of Internal Medicine, Yeungnam University College of Medicine, Daegu, Republic of Korea; 2CHA University Hospital, Gumi, Kyeongsangbuk-Do, Republic of Korea.


Red blood cell (RBC) deformability is an ability of RBC to change shape under stress, and it has been known to be decreased in diabetes. However, the role of RBC deformability is not determined in type 2 diabetes (T2D) yet. We attempted to clarify whether RBC deformability is related with diabetic complications. This was a cross-sectional study, and 452 T2D patients were enrolled. RBC deformability was measured by using a microfluidic ektacytometer, Rheoscan-D (Rheo-Meditech, Seoul, Korea), and expressed as elongation index at 3 Pa (EI@3P, %). 388 patients (mean age 60.37±11.98 years, male 233) were finally included. When subjects were categorized into three groups by hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c; <7% vs 7≤<9% vs ≥9%), mean EI@3P was significantly lower in the poorly controlled group (31.23±1.60 vs 31.00±1.82 vs 30.70±1.64, P<0.05 by ANOVA). HOMA-B and insulinogenic index were positively correlated with EI@3Pa but not with HOMA-IR in multiple regression analysis. EI@3Pa was significantly lower only in patients with retinopathy than those without retinopathy (30.53±1.95 vs 31.20±1.53, P=0.001). Of quartiles from lowest EI@3Pa to highest (reference), the odds ratio for Q1 was 2.86 (95% CI 1.24, 6.62, P=0.014) after adjustment for age, gender, hypertension, smoking, duration of diabetes, GFR, and triglyceride. If EI@3Pa increase by 1%, the risk of diabetic retinopathy will decrease by 24.9%. These results suggest that impaired RBC deformability is related with decreased pancreatic beta cell function and the risk of diabetic retinopathy.

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