The importance of measurement of plasma fibrinogen level among patients with type- 2 diabetes mellitus.

BACKGROUND & AIM: Fibrinogen has been implicated as a cause of atherosclerosis and its complications in patients with type 2 DM. We aimed to measure the plasma fibrinogen level in type 2 diabetics and to correlate it with the duration, type of treatment, HbA1c, smoking, lipid profile, diabetic retinopathy, hypertension and ischemic heart disease in comparison to control.

METHODS

A case control single center study included 50 patients with type 2 DM between the ages of 35-85 y who were randomly selected from the medical units of Baghdad Teaching Hospital compared to 30 non-diabetics as a control. After taking verbal consents; plasma fibrinogen levels were estimated and correlated with aimed variables. Odds ratios with 95% CI were calculated and regression analysis was performed for correlations. P ≤ 0.05 was considered statistically significant.

RESULTS

There were statistically significant differences regarding total cholesterol, TG, and LDL between cases and control. Mean HbA1c of diabetics was 8.31 ± 1.75% (P < 0.001). Cases showed plasma fibrinogen of (4.01 ± 1.89 g/dL) compared to (2.79 ± 0.55 g/dL) of control (P < 0.001). ROC curve revealed that the AUC was (0.679 ± 0.06, 95%CI = 0.561-0.797, P < 0.008). The sensitivity and specificity of the test at cut off value of 3.05 g/dL were 0.62 and 0.567 respectively. There was a significant correlation between fibrinogen level and each of HbA1c (r = 0.497, P < 0.001) and TG (r = 0.359, P = 0.01).

CONCLUSIONS

HbA1c has a significant positive effect on plasma fibrinogen and it is important to measure plasma fibrinogen level in patients with type 2 DM.