ABSTRACT
Objective
Type 2 diabetes (T2DM) is characterized by the progressive deterioration of pancreatic islet β-cell function over time and insulin resistance. Knowing more about the differences in pancreatic islet function in T2DM patients who have had diabetes for different lengths of time can help improve therapy for T2DM.
Subjects and methods
We conducted a cross-sectional study to compare islet β-cell function and insulin resistance in T2DM patients (n = 3,254) who had had diabetes for different lengths of time and those in normal controls (n = 794) using ANOVA and LSD analysis.
Results
We found that compared with that in normal controls, HOMA-β in T2DM patients with a history of diabetes of less than 1 year was lower (approximately 52% of that of normal controls, p = 0.003), while HOMA-IR in these patients was higher (approximately 50% of that of normal controls, p = 0.007). Compared with that in other diabetic patients, HOMA-β in patients with a history of diabetes of more than 30 years was the lowest. HOMA-IR in patients with a history of diabetes of between 20 and 30 years was lower than that in other diabetic patients (p < 0.05).
Conclusions
There were obvious decreases in HOMA-β and increases in HOMA-IR in T2DM patients with a history of diabetes of less than 1 year compared with those in normal controls. Therefore, early screening and intervention for T2DM might help improve islet function and delay the progression of diabetes.
Type 2 diabetes; islet function; insulin resistance; history of disease
In group II (history of diabetes between 1 and 10 years) and group III (history of diabetes of between 10 and 20 years), the levels of fasting C peptide and HOMA-β in patients with BMI ≥ 25 kg/m2 were significantly higher than those in patients with BMI < 25 kg/m2 (*p < 0.05). For all T2DM patients, the levels of HOMA-IR in patients with BMI ≥ 25 kg/m2 were significantly higher than those in patients with BMI < 25 kg/m2 (*p < 0.05).