Tijmen van der Ent1, Eleen Schupp1, Manon Dumont1, Rinke Stienstra1,2, Rick I. Meijer1, Cees J. Tack1
1Radboud University Medical Centre, Nijmegen, the Netherlands, 2Wageningen University & Research, Wageningen, the Netherlands. E-mail address presenting author: tijmen.vanderent@radboudumc.nl
Background
Increased glycaemic variability (GV) is associated with diabetes-related complications and mortality, and a higher burden of infections. The underlying pathophysiological mechanism remains unknown, but disturbances in the immune system may play a role. In this study, we investigated the relation between GV and circulating leukocyte counts in people with type 1 diabetes.
Methods
We performed a case-control study at the Radboud University Medical Centre, Nijmegen, the Netherlands. Participants were included in either a high (CV>36%) or low (CV<32%) GV group. Circulating leukocytes were measured using the Sysmex haematology analyser. Unpaired t-tests were performed to test statistical differences between the two groups.
Results
Currently, 16 participants are included in the high GV group, and 21 in the low GV group. The high and low GV group had a two-week average CV value of 39.0% ± 4.7 and 26.6% ± 3.6, respectively. The high GV group had lower overall leukocyte counts compared with the low GV group (4.77∙103/µL vs 5.96∙103/µL; p = 0.006). Correspondingly, monocytes (0.40∙103/µL vs 0.53∙103/µL; p = 0.01), lymphocytes (1.36∙103/µL vs 1.69∙103/µL; p = 0.007), and neutrophils (2.81∙103/µL vs 3.51∙103/µL; p = 0.007) were lower in the high GV group.
Discussion/Conclusion
A lower number of circulating leukocytes was observed in people with type 1 diabetes with high GV. This intriguing finding might contribute to the increased susceptibility for infections in people with high GV, but its role in vascular complications is unclear. We will study the levels of different inflammatory proteins within this cohort in the near future to further investigate the role of GV in inflammation in T1DM.