Background:
Vitamin D is increasingly investigated as having a role in Type 2 Diabetes
Mellitus (T2DM) and its cardiovascular and renal complications.
Objective:
This study aimed to investigate the association between 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25-OHD) and
biomarkers of cardiovascular and renal complications, including cystatin-C.
Methods:
This cross-sectional study involved 117 participants with T2DM that was not complicated
with cardiovascular or renal diseases except hypertension. 25-OHD was measured by electrochemiluminescence
immunoassay, while cystatin-C was measured by enzyme-linked-immunosorbent-assay. Other
biomarkers, including lipids, creatinine, urea and glycemic measures, were determined by the routine
biochemistry assays.
Results:
The prevalence of vitamin D deficiency was 74.36%. There was no significant difference in
cardiovascular and renal biomarkers, including glucose, HbA1c, lipids, urea, creatinine and cystatin-C
between participants with adequate and deficient vitamin D (p-values>0.05). Participants with adequate
vitamin D were older in age, more obese and having lower eGFR (p-values<0.05). 25-OHD was weakly
correlated with age, duration of DM, urea, creatinine and inversely correlated with eGFR (rvalues<
0.32, p-values<0.05). Although creatinine and cystatin-C were directly correlated (r=0.42, pvalue<
0.001), cystatin-C and 25-OHD were not correlated (p-value>0.05). Hypertensive participants
were more obese, having a longer duration of DM and higher urea and cystatin-C compared to nonhypertensive
participants (p-values<0.05). Binary logistic regression analysis revealed that hypertension
could be predicted from increased BMI.
Conclusion:
25-OHD was not found to be correlated with cardiovascular risk biomarkers, but it was
correlated with renal biomarkers, including urea, creatinine and eGFR. Cystatin-C and 25-OHD were
not observed to be correlated to each other, but both were correlated to renal function. Obesity was a
significant predictor of hypertension.