Study of Serum Lipid Profile Level in Prediabetic Subjects in Indian population

Background: Diabetes mellitus (DM), commonly referred to as diabetes, is a group of metabolic disorders in which there are high blood sugar levels over a prolonged period. Pre-diabetes is the precursor stage before diabetes mellitus in which not all of the symptoms required to diagnose diabetes are present, but blood sugar is abnormally high. This stage is often referred to as the "grey area". Dyslipidemia in diabetes commonly manifests as raised Cholesterol, Triglyceride, low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C), VLDL and decreased high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) levels. Our study was aimed to assess and compare the serum Lipid Profile level in pre-diabetic subjects and healthy controls. Materials and Methods: The present study is a case control study, conducted on 150 pre-diabetic subjects. Subjects were selected from MOPD of Jawahar Lal Nehru Medical College and Associated Group of Hospitals, Ajmer. Age and sex matched healthy controls (n = 50) were selected from MOPD of Jawahar Lal Nehru Medical College and Associated Group of Hospitals, Ajmer. The present study is approved by Institutional Ethical Committee. Results: The mean level of Serum Total cholesterol, triglyceride (TG), very low density lipoprotein (VLDL), low density lipoprotein (LDL) were significantly raised in prediabetic subjects as compared to normal healthy controls, whereas high density lipoprotein (HDL) was significantly lower in prediabetic subjects as compared to normal healthy controls (p<0.0001). Conclusion: TC, TG, VLDL & LDL were significantly raised in prediabetic as compared to normal healthy subjects whereas HDL was significantly lower in prediabetics as compared to normal healthy subjects. These prediabetic individuals, because of their dyslipidemia, are at higher risk for developing cardiovascular disease. There is increasing importance of screening individuals for pre- diabetes to prevent morbidity and mortality due to diabetes. Lifestyle modification or pharmacotherapy in such individuals becomes a clinical consideration.