Gender Differences in the Effect of Diabetes Mellitus in Serum Lipid of Diabetics Attending Plateau State Specialist Hospital

Background: Diabetes is an increasing health concern globally with several complications (including coronary heart disease) and diverse contributing factors. Diabetes has been proven to affect both male and females nevertheless, the attendant dyslipidemia is suspected to be common among females than males.

Objectives: This study is aimed at evaluating the effect of gender on the serum lipid profile of diabetics.

Methods: One hundred and eighty six (186) diabetics comprising 86 males and 100 female diabetics of all groups, attending plateau state specialist hospital Jos were admitted as subjects in this study. While 50 control samples were collected from apparently healthy non-diabetics. The BMI and Blood pressure of the subjects was determined on the site of sample collection, while the blood samples were analyzed in the laboratory using a fully automated biochemistry analyzer. The parameters assayed include; Total cholesterol, High density lipoproteins, Low density lipoproteins, Triglycerides and Fasting blood glucose.

Results: Results generated revealed a significant (p = .05) variation in the total cholesterol, Low Density Lipoprotein and Blood pressure values of male and female diabetics while triglycerides values varied significantly (p = 0.05) between diabetics and controls subjects of both sexes accordingly. The results further revealed that female diabetics above 60 yrs had higher total cholesterol (5.5±1.5 mmol/L), Triglycerides (1.6±1.4 mmol/L), LDL (2.9±1.5 mmol/L) and Systolic blood pressure (15.58±2.19×10 mmHg) values, and the lowest HDL (1.9±0.3 mmol/L) value when compared to the values gotten from the other age groups. While those between the ages of 21-40 yrs had the lowest Total cholesterol (4.2±0.8 mmol/L), Triglycerides (1.3±0.9 mmol/L), LDL (1.5±1.0 mmol/L), BMI (25.2±5.7 Kg/m2) and Systolic blood pressure (13.4±2.29×10 mmHg) values.

Conclusion: This study unveils the possibility of the female diabetics being more prone to dyslipidemia than the male gender thus exposing the females to increased risk of coronary heart disease. Although, both males and females alike are exposed to the metabolic syndrome, the female diabetic is especially prone to this syndrome. This may be due to the physiologic make-up of the female and their body changes during pregnancy.