A cross-sectional study on the Nesfatin-1 serum levels of Vietnamese patients with pre-diabetes.

Abstract

Over the past few years, the number of diabetes patients in the world has increased rapidly, with many serious complications, making it one of the most pressing concerns in society. According to the International Diabetes Federation (IDF), there were 537 million people worldwide (aged 20–79) suffering from diabetes in 2021. This number is expected to rise to 783 million in 20451. Vietnam is among the top 10 countries with the highest increase rate of diabetes cases, at 5.5% per year. As reported by the Vietnamese Association of Diabetes and Endocrinology (VADE), there are currently 5 million Vietnamese people living with diabetes, accounting for 6% of the population. This number is predicted to increase to 7 or 8 million by 20252. Diabetes is estimated to be the cause of death for at least 80 people each day. The percentage of undiagnosed diabetes cases in Vietnam is nearly 62.6%3. If left undetected and untreated in the early stages, pre-diabetes can increase the risk of dangerous complications and severely affect the patient’s health. In recent years, Nesfatin-1 has been identified as one of the cytokines associated with diabetes4,5. Peripheral Nesfatin-1 was linked to several clinical laboratory parameters that influenced nutrition and metabolism6. Therefore, determining the concentration of Nesfatin-1 serum is important for assessing the disease progression, predicting the damage to target organs, and evaluating the impact of treatment measures. A cross-sectional study was carried out on 524 patients diagnosed with prediabetes and 205 healthy people serving as the control group. These participants were taken from periodic health check-up groups at general hospitals in northern Vietnam. Pre-diabetes was diagnosed for those with fasting blood glucose (FBG) ≥126 mg/dL, hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c) ≥6.5%, or with classic symptoms of hyperglycemia7. The concentration of Nesfatin-1 serum, anthropometry, and clinical parameters associated with the cardiovascular, hepatic, and renal organs were determined and analyzed. Nesfatin-1 has the effects of suppressing appetite, reducing gastric motility, reducing cholesterol, triglycerides, and white adipose mass, as well as lowering lipid production and glucose in the blood. The Nesfatin-1 serum level of pre-diabetes patients was 1.5 times lower than in the control group (0.66 vs. 1.12 ng/mL) (Table 1). Blood glucose-related indices of pre-diabetes, such as HbA1c and