Evaluation of C-peptide in Type 2 Diabetic Patient in Douala Cameroon: C-peptide Correlation with BMI and Duration of Diabetes

Introduction: The C-peptide assay is the more reliable indicator of insulin secretion than insulin itself, making it possible to optimize the treatment and to anticipate the evolution of complications linked to type 2 diabetes. The present study reports the relationship between the levels of C-peptide, the body mass index and the duration of type 2 diabetes in two hospitals (General Hospital and Gyneco-Obstetric and Pediatric Hospital) in the city of Douala Cameroon. The aim of this study was to assess relationship between serum C-peptide levels with some patient characteristics such as duration in type 2 diabetes and obesity. Methods: We carried out an analytical cross-sectional study over a period of 9 months of patients with type 2 diabetes regularly monitored at the General Hospital and Gyneco-Obstetric and Pediatric Hospital of Douala Cameroon. We included any patient whose diagnosis of type 2 diabetes was mentioned in the medical file. The C-peptide assays after fasting blood sampling were carried out according to the principle of electro-chemiluminescence assay. The ANOVA and PEARSON tests made it possible to compare groups and look for correlations between C-peptide and other variables. The significant threshold was set at P˂0.05. Results: We included 90 subjects with a mean age of 58±12.31 years. The average BMI was 28.18±5.51 kg/m2. The mean duration of diabetes was 8.71±6.94 years, the mean C-peptide level was 2.50±1.68 ng/ml. We found that C-Peptide levels increased with body mass index (P=0.004) and patient age (P=0.004). Conversely, we found that C-peptide levels increased with duration of diabetes but not significantly (P=0.411). Conclusion: The C-peptide levels make it possible to objectify the residual secretion of pancreatic beta cells. We found that C-peptide levels increases with increasing body mass index, but they were no significant correlation between C-peptide levels and the diabetes duration.