• Journal of Medicine and Life Science
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• v.17 no.2
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• pp.47-52
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• 2020

Glucagon regulates glucose and fat metabolism as well as being involved in the production of ketone bodies. The new antidiabetic drug, a sodium-glucose co-transporter-2 inhibitor, increases glucagon, and reduces the risk of cardiovascular death and hospitalization due to heart failure. The presence of metabolic syndrome is an important risk factor for cardiovascular diseases(CVD) in type 2 diabetes(T2DM) patients. We, thus, investigated the association between glucagon levels and metabolic syndrome in T2DM patients. This cross-sectional study involved 317 T2DM patients. Fasting and postprandial (30 min after ingestion of a standard mixed meal) glucagon levels were measured. Metabolic syndrome was defined according to the criteria of the International Diabetes Federation. A multiple regression logistic analysis was employed for statistical evaluation. A total of 219 (69%) subjects had metabolic syndrome. The fasting and postprandial glucagon levels did not differ between the group with metabolic syndrome and the group without. Postprandial glucagon levels increased significantly with the increase in the number of metabolic syndrome components, but the fasting levels did not. However, a hierarchical logistic regression analysis revealed that the postprandial glucagon levels did not contribute significantly to metabolic syndrome even after adjusting for other covariates. Fasting and postprandial glucagon levels are not associated with metabolic syndrome in T2DM patients. However, further studies are needed to investigate the relationship between glucagon and cardiovascular risk in patients with T2DM.