Serum sialic acid in young type-1 diabetic patients

It is well established that serum total sialic acid (TSA) is elevated in pa tients with type-2 diabetes mellitus (NIDDM) compared to non-diabetics. How ever, it is not clear whether serum TSA is also elevated in type-1 diabetic patients (IDDM). Twenty-one type-1 patients were studied along with age an d sex matched normal non-diabetic subjects (ten males and 11 females). Thei r ages were 24.8 +/- 3.4 years (20-30) and 23.5 +/- 3.9 years (18-30) respe ctively. The duration of diabetes mellitus was 12.6 +/- 6.7 years (1-24) wi th a HBA1c of 9.0 +/- 2.2% (6.0-14.9). There was no significant difference in serum TSA of the type-1 diabetic patients 689 +/- 107 mg/l versus 670 +/ - 119 mg/l in the normal subjects. Nor was there a significant correlation between serum TSA with patient age (r = - 0.31), urine albumin/creatinine r atio (ACR) (r = 0.25), HBAlc (r = 0.36), plasma random glucose (r = - 0.04) or diabetes duration (r = - 0.09) in the diabetic patients. However, there was a significant correlation between serum TSA and mean daily insulin dos e (r = 0.51, P < 0.02) and also serum cholesterol and triglyceride (r = 0.5 8, P < 0.01 and r = 0.49, P < 0.04, respectively) in the type-1 diabetic pa tients. In summary, we conclude that serum TSA is not elevated in young typ e-1 diabetic patients compared with normal age and sex matched control subj ects. However, the relationship between serum TSA and serum lipids and also mean daily insulin dose merits further research. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.