ORIGINAL ARTICLE   

Minerva Endocrinologica 2019 September;44(3):252-8

DOI: 10.23736/S0391-1977.18.02822-5

Copyright © 2018 EDIZIONI MINERVA MEDICA

language: English

Correlation between changes in inflammatory cytokines and the combination with hypertension in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus

Qinghua HE, Min DONG, Qi PAN, Xiaoxia WANG, Lixin GUO ✉

Department of Endocrinology, Beijing Hospital, National Center of Gerontology, Beijing, China

BACKGROUND: We aimed to analyze the relationship between the combination with hypertension and the level of inflammatory cytokines in peripheral serum in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (DM), and to explore the value of inflammatory cytokines in predicting type 2 DM combined with hypertension.
METHODS: A total of 120 patients diagnosed with type 2 DM in our hospital from March 2014 to September 2016 were selected. The clinical data were retrospectively analyzed. These patients were divided into the combination with hypertension group (N.=56) and the non-combination with hypertension group (N.=64), including 75 males and 45 females.
RESULTS: Duration of DM, fasting plasma glucose (FPG), glycosylated hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c) and also levels of inflammatory cytokines (hs-CRP, TNF-α and IL-6) in the combination with hypertension group were all significantly higher than those in the non-combination with hypertension group (P<0.05). The incidence rate of hypertension in patients with high-level hs-CRP, high-level TNF-α and high-level IL-6 were significantly higher than that in patients with normal levels (P<0.05). Type 2 DM patients with high-level inflammatory cytokines had significantly longer duration of DM, and higher FPG and HbA1c values than those with normal levels (P<0.05). Results also showed that hs-CRP, TNF-α and IL-6 were positively correlated with FPG, HbA1c and the hypertension grade, and FPG and HbA1c were also positively correlated with the hypertension grade.Logistic regression analysis revealed that hs-CRP, TNF-α, IL-6, the duration of DM, BMI, FPG, HbA1c, TC and LDL had independent values in predicting Type 2 DM combined with hypertension (P<0.05).
CONCLUSIONS: Levels of serum hs-CRP, TNF-α and IL-6 are significantly elevated in patients with type 2 DM combined with essential hypertension, which are important factors affecting changes in blood glucose. The higher the level of inflammatory cytokines is, the higher the grade of hypertension will be.

KEY WORDS: Type 2 diabetes mellitus; Hypertension; C-reactive protein; Tumor necrosis factor-alpha; Interleukin-6