Endocrine Abstracts

Introduction: Increased neutrophil to lymphocyte ratio (NLR) is an inflammatory marker and an indicator of cardiovascular risk. Recent studies demonstrated that the NLR values of the diabetic patients were significantly higher than the healthy controls. Vitamin D (25OHD) deficiency has been associated with diabetes mellitus and cardiovascular diseases. Studies established a significant negative correlation between 25(OH)D and HbA1c levels. Aim of this study is to evaluate the association between 25(OH)D status and inflammation by using NLR.

Methods: Diabetic patients who admitted to our outpatient clinic between January-December 2015 were assessed retrospectively. Patients with cardiac comorbidity including hypertension, any acute or chronic inflammatory disorder and cigarette smokers were excluded. A total of 248 cases (151 female, 97 male; mean age 55.81±8.86) were included in the study. Anthropometric and laboratory findings were recorded. Patients were grouped according to 25(OH)D levels (Group 1=25(OH)D<30 ng/ml and group 2=25(OH)D>30 ng/ml).

Results: Groups were age, sex and BMI-matched. Duration of diabetes were similar in both groups (4.69±3.9 vs 6.33±5.62 years; P=0.107). There is no association between 25OHD and HbA1c levels (P=0.854). Triglyceride levels were higher (182.53±120.17 vs 151.44±58.00 mg/dl) and HDL levels were lower in group 1 (44.89±15.71 vs 49.73±12.69 mg/dl) but these differences didn’t reach the statistical significance (P=0.11 and P=0.06 respectively). In the 25(OH)D insufficient group, NLR were significantly higher than the adequate group (2.05±0.67 vs 1.59±0.42; P=0.000).

Conclusion: Our results established higher NLR values in 25(OH)D insufficient diabetic patients and emphasized the increased cardiovascular risk in 25(OH)D deficiency.