Decreased glucagon in diabetic peripheral neuropathy patients with long duration type 2 diabetes.

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to investigate the association of fasting C-peptide and glucagon with diabetic peripheral neuropathy (DPN) in patients with type 2 diabetes (T2DM).

METHODS: A comprehensive evaluation was conducted on 797 patients with T2DM to assess the various risk factors affecting DPN. The subjects were categorized into short duration and long duration group according to the duration of diabetes with a threshold of 10 years. Logistic regression analysis was employed to examine the association between DPN and islet function, as well as other parameters. Receiver operating characteristic curve analysis was performed to evaluate the predictive capability of glucagon.

RESULTS: The fasting C-peptide levels were significantly lower in the DPN patients with short duration of diabetes, but lost significance in the long duration group. Conversely, a decreased level of glucagon was only observed in DPN patients with long duration of diabetes. For the group with long duration of diabetes, glucagon was the sole risk factor associated with DPN. The receiver operating characteristic curve analysis revealed that glucagon in the long duration group exhibited a moderate area under the curve of 0.706.

CONCLUSIONS: The serum glucagon levels in T2DM patients with DPN exhibited bidirectional changes based on the duration of diabetes. Decreased glucagon was associated with DPN in T2DM patients with long duration of diabetes.