Red cell sorbitol and diabetic control.

There is a disagreement about the value of red cell sorbitol as an indicator of diabetic control. We studied 7 insulin requiring diabetics, one for 10 days and 6 for 24 hours. In the 10-day study, blood samples were obtained every 4-6 hours. Sequential analysis of plasma glucose and red cell sorbitol levels showed that simultaneous levels had the best correlation r = 0.534, P less than .001. In the 24-hour studies, blood samples were obtained at 1 to 4-hour intervals. Three of the 6 patients showed the best correlation between simultaneous plasma glucose and red cell sorbitol, with r = 0.727 to 0.957 and P less than .001 to P less than .07. When plasma glucose values were compared to red cell sorbitol levels 1, 2, 4, 8 and 12 h later, correlation coefficients were not as good as the simultaneous comparison. We conclude that the measurement of red cell sorbitol correlates well with simultaneous plasma glucose in some but not all diabetic subjects and provides no additional information to the clinician.