The association of serum total sialic acid/total protein ratio with diabetic parameters in young type 1 diabetic patients.

Sialic acid is a terminal component of the non-reducing end of carbohydrate chains of glycoproteins and glycolipids. The purpose of this study was to estimate serum total sialic acid (TSA) concentrations and serum TSA/serum total protein (TP) ratios in young type 1 diabetic subjects and to investigate their association with diabetes-related parameters in that population. Twentyfour young type 1 diabetic patients and 20 healthy controls were enrolled in this study. Serum TSA and serum TSA/TP ratio were measured in both groups. Moreover, we looked for correlation among serum TSA, serum TSA/TP ratio and clinically relevant parameters such as urinary albumin excretion, blood pressure, diabetes duration, HbA1c, daily insulin dose, serum lipids and magnesium in type 1 diabetic patients. Serum TSA concentrations and serum TSA/TP ratio showed no statistical difference between patients and controls (p>0.05). While serum TSA concentrations only correlated with urinary albumin excretion (r=0.44, p=0.028), serum TSA/TP ratio correlated with diastolic blood pressure (r=0.48, p=0.015), diabetes duration (r=0.46, p=0.022) and urinary albumin excretion (r=0.53, p=0.007) in the diabetic subjects. We concluded that serum TSA/TP ratio might be a better indicator than serum TSA as an index of diabetic complications.