Comparative study of erythrocyte fragility in diabetes mellitus and non diabetes mellitus

Abstract

Introduction: The present study has examined the effect of elevated glucose levels on osmotic fragility of erythrocytes. Osmotic fragility determines the rate of hemolysis of erythrocytes. Blood glucose is the sole energy source for erythrocytes. Diabetes mellitus (DM) is a metabolic disorder characterized by hyperglycemia and has become a major public health problem globally. Diabeties is the risk factor for osmotic fragility. Aim: the aim of the present study is to describe erythrocyte osmotic fragility changes from type II diabetes to non diabetes. Materials and methods: The osmotic fragility test is a measure of the resistance of erythrocytes to hemolysis by osmotic stress. The study was conducted on (n=60) aged between 50-55 years, case group will include 30 type II diabetes who were randomly selected from outpatients of the Malla Reddy Hospital, Suraram. Control group involves 30 non diabetic individuals. Parameters selected for study are initial hemolysis, complete hemolysis, median corpuscular hemolysis, haemoglobin, haemoglobin A1c, Fasting blood sugar, post prandial blood sugar and respective parameters were compared in both the groups. Results & discussion: In this study when type II diabetics were compared with non diabetic individuals, there was a significant change in osmotic fragility of type II diabetics when compare to non diabetic controls. Conclusion: Hyperglycemia causes structural changes in red cell corpuscles which lead to osmotic stress. Hence, it is necessary to rule out investigations of pathogenic mechanisms induced by red cell fragility to prevent complications of diabetes mellitus.