Novel indicator of microvascular complications in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus and shortened erythrocyte lifespan: a multicenter cross-sectional analysis.

Introduction: In this study, we assessed whether the ratio of glucose management index (GMI) to glycated albumin (GA) was linked to microvascular complications in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) who also possessed a shortened erythrocyte lifespan.

Methods: This study encompassed individuals from the Tianjin Diabetic Retinopathy Screening Cohort who completed continuous glucose monitoring and had an erythrocyte lifespan of under 90 days. Differences in GMI/GA were compared between the T2DM patients with or without microvascular complications, including diabetic kidney disease (DKD) and diabetic retinopathy (DR). The relationship between GMI/GA and microvascular complications (DKD and/or DR) was assessed by dividing GMI/GA into three groups based on tertiles.

Results: Our study comprised 140 participants with T2DM (62 men and 78 women, with a median age of 67 years) with a median DM duration of 9.68 years, a mean glycated hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c) value of 7.10%, and a median GA value of 16.10%. As expected, the lower GMI/GA group exhibited higher HbA1c and GA (P < 0.001) with similar mean glucose levels (P = 0.099). GMI/GA values were significantly higher in participants without microvascular complications than in those with microvascular complications, including DKD and/or DR (P < 0.05). After adjusting for confounders, the lowest GMI/GA group (T1) had a 3.601-fold increased risk of microvascular complications (95% CI, 1.364-9.508, P = 0.010) and a 3.830-fold increased risk of DKD, specifically (95% CI, 1.364-12.222, P = 0.023) relative to the highest group (T3).

Conclusion: GMI/GA serves as a novel risk indicator for microvascular complications in T2DM, independent of HbA1c.