Erythrocyte fragility increases with level of glycosylated hemoglobin in type 2 diabetic patients

BACKGROUND: This study examines that erythrocyte was fragility-susceptible in diabetes. METHODS: Forty-five outpatients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (aged 46 +/- 13 years) and 20 healthy individuals with no history of diabetes disorders (aged 43 +/- 7 years) were randomly selected in this study. All subjects were analysis for blood glucose, glycosylated hemoglobin and erythrocyte osmotic fragility tests. RESULTS: The data for blood glucose (p<0.001), glycosylated hemoglobin (p<0.001), start hemolysis of erythrocyte (p<0.001), medium corpuscle hemolysis (p<0.001) and complete hemolysis (p=0.001) were significantly higher for diabetes than that of non-diabetes. The erythrocyte osmotic fragility in start hemolysis (r=0.479, p<0.001), medium corpuscle hemolysis (r=0.454, p<0.001) and complete hemolysis (r=0.277, p=0.025) were closely correlated with red blood cell glycosylated hemoglobin. Investigation of associations with red cell fragility-susceptible, diabetic patients had significantly increased risks of cell hemolysis on start hemolysis (ORs, 32.67; 95% CIs, 7.201-148.19), medium corpuscle hemolysis (ORs, 2.53; 95% CIs, 0.831-7.695) and complete hemolysis (ORs, 4.28; 95% CIs, 1.386-13.202) (all p<0.05 for linear trends) of erythrocyte to non-diabetes controls. CONCLUSIONS: This study demonstrated that osmotic fragility of erythrocyte was greater in type 2 diabetic subjects compared to non-diabetic controls and red blood cell fragility was positively correlated with glycosylated hemoglobin. Hence, it is necessary to emphasize increasing investigations of pathogenic mechanisms exacerbated by red cell fragility to prevent complications of diabetes mellitus.