Abstract
Glycosylated haemoglobin (HbA1c) is a routinely used marker for long-term glycaemic control. This study aimed to reveal the correlation of HbA1c with BMI and HDL-cholesterol in Type 2 diabetic Saudi patients. This is an observational hospital based-case control study that was conducted in Najran University Hospital (Najran, Saudi Arabia). Patient's sera were used to measure the concentration of HbA1c and lipid profile. Significant differences between groups were assessed by one-way ANOVA and t-test. Pearson correlation was done and the r values were calculated at level of (p<0.05) significance. HDL-cholesterol was significantly lower in diabetic patients than in healthy non-diabetic control group. Pearson correlation coefficient of HbA1c in diabetic patients with BMI was statistically significant (in spite of being weak) at the 0.0001 level. Moreover, there was a statistically significant positive correlation between HbA1c and LDL-cholesterol (r=0.271, p<0.0001), between BMI and LDL-cholesterol (r=0.240, p<0.0001), and between BMI and TG (r=0.196, p<0.01). It was concluded that HbA1c can be used as a helpful prospective biomarker that sustains the ability of prognosticating serum lipid profile in diabetic patients. The strong negative correlation between BMI and HDL-cholesterol in diabetic patients and the statistically significant positive correlation between BMI and LDL-cholesterol and between BMI and TAG make BMI to be an imposing predictor of dyslipidaemia in type 2 diabetic patients.