Correlation Between Glycemic Variability and Diabetic Complications: A Narrative Review

Abstract

Diabetes mellitus is a metabolic disorder with a complex etiology in which glycemic dynamics are disturbed and the body is unable to maintain the process of glucose homeostasis through the pancreas. Persistent symptoms of high blood glucose or low blood glucose may lead to diabetic complications, such as neuropathy, nephropathy, retinopathy, and cardiovascular diseases. Glycemic variability which can represent the presence of excessive glycemic excursions is an indicator for evaluating glucose homoeostasis. Limiting glycemic variability has gradually become an emerging therapeutic target in improve diabetes metabolism and prevent associated complications. This article reviews the progress of research on the various quantifiable parameters of glycemic variability and their relationships with vascular lesions and mechanisms.

Keywords:

• diabetes mellitus
• glycemic variability
• glycemic variability parameters
• vascular lesions of diabetes mellitus

Disclosure

The authors declare no conflicts of interest related to this work/review article.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by Suzhou Science and Technology Project (No: SLT2021006).