Danya Shaukat, Zujaja Hina Haroon, Usama Bin Khalid, Haroon Javaid, Farooq-ul Abidin, Hassaan Javaid.
Establishing carnitine deficiency in patients of type II diabetes mellitus with early diabetic retinopathy.
Pak J Pathol Jan ;32(4):153-7.

Objective: To compare carnitine levels in patients of Type-II Diabetes Mellitus having early diabetic retinopathy with age matched non-diabetic healthy controls. Material and Methods: This observational cross-sectional study was conducted at the department of Chemical Pathology and Endocrinology, Armed Forces Institute of Pathology, Rawalpindi from October 2019 to March 2020.Known cases of Type-II Diabetes Mellitus of both gender and all ages were included in the study having mild non-proliferative diabetic retinopathy, while healthy non-diabetics were enrolled as controls. Pre-chilled lithium heparin tubes were used for collection of blood samples and were analysed by competitive ELISA technique. Comparison between groups was done by independent sample t test and correlation between high BMI and low carnitine was assessed by Pearson correlation. Results: Total of 240samples were analysed which included 120 patients of Type-II Diabetes Mellitus having mild non-proliferative diabetic retinopathy and 120 non-diabetic age matched subjects with a male to female ratio of 1:1. Mean level of carnitine was found 35.0 +- 6.54mmol/L in non-diabetics while 28.0 +- 2.0 mmol/Lin patients of diabetes mellitus. Among diabetic population, carnitine was significantly lower as compared to non-diabetics (p<0.02). No significant difference was found between males and females (p>0.05). BMI had a significant negative correlation with carnitine levels in patients of DR and disease-free groups both (r=-0.76 and -0.69). Conclusion: This study shows that carnitine levels were low in patients having mild non-proliferative diabetic retinopathy as compared to non-diabetic healthy controls. Key Words: Carnitine, Diabetes mellitus, Diabetic retinopathy, Insulin resistance.

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