The ABC (HbA1c, blood pressure and LDL-cholesterol) of diabetes and oxidative stress: knowing the links

Introduction and Aim: Large body of evidence suggests that oxidative stress has a crucial role to play in diabetes and its related complications. In the present research we have tried to determine potential risk factors for oxidative stress in type 2 diabetes by conducting a cross-sectional study. Materials and Methods: We studied 238 patients with or without complications of diabetes, aged 40-75 years. Blood samples were analysed for fasting plasma glucose, glycated haemoglobin, malondialdehyde, total cholesterol, triglyceride, LDL-cholesterol and HDL-cholesterol. Each patient’s waist circumference, BMI, blood pressure was measured. Results: Participants mean age was 57.5 ± 8.9 years. Logistic regression analysis identified glycated haemoglobin (95% CI: 1.02-1.92; p=0.04), hypertension (95% CI: 0.99-4.08; p=0.05) and LDL-cholesterol (95% CI: 1.12-5.87; p=0.03) as independent risk factors for oxidative stress. Other contributors were age and presence of complications like nephropathy, retinopathy, peripheral neuropathy and macrovascular disease in diabetes. Conclusion: Our data demonstrate that ‘ABCs of diabetes’ namely HbA₁c, blood pressure and LDL-cholesterol are independent risk factors for oxidative stress. Oxidative stress aggravates with age and presence of complications. It appears important to achieve a good ABC goal to bring down oxidative stress in diabetes.