Association of Age, Gender and Type of Diabetes with Thiamine Level: A Cross-Sectional Analysis

Objective: Diabetes Mellitus has been observed to be related with low thiamine levels in the body, as it affects directly on carbohydrate metabolism. Therefore, this study was intended to assessdemographic characteristics and serum thiamine levels in type I and type II diabetic patients and healthy control group.

Methodology: This was a case-control study carried out in diabetic outpatient department (OPD) of Urban Health Center and New Karachi, Hospital. The duration of the study was about six months after approval of synopsis. The study sample included 90 participants and divided into three groups, 30 participants each in the control, type I diabetes and type II diabetes groups. Patients with type I and II diabetes mellitus of both genders with age < 25 to > 46 years were included in the study. One Way ANOVA was applied to find out the significance of differences among the groups.

Results: The study results showed that out of 90 participants, 33(36.7%) were males and 57(63.3%) were females; 1(1.1%) of them had low thiamine level, 17(18.9%) had normal thiamine level whereas 72(80.0%) had high thiamine level. It was observed that significant association found between thiamine levels and age groups (p<0.001). Furthermore, 18(60.0%) had Low/Normal thiamine level and 12(40.0%) had high thiamine level in type I diabetes patients while 30(100%) in control group and Type II Diabetic patients had high thiamine level with significant association between them (p<0.001). On the other hand, an insignificant association was found between gender and low and high thiamine levels (p=0.743).

Conclusion: This study concluded that both the age and group types were significantly associated with thiamine levels of the participants. Furthermore, type I Diabetes patients had significantly lower thiamine levels as compared to type II Diabetes and controls. On the other hand, there was no significant relationship of gender with thiamine levels.