J Appl Biomed 23:26-35, 2025 | DOI: 10.32725/jab.2025.005

Changes in glucose-related parameters according to LDL-cholesterol concentration ranges in non-diabetic patients

Vladimír Kron^{1, 4, 5, *}, Miroslav Verner^{2, 5}, Pavel Smetana¹, Radka Vrzalová¹, Eliška Friebergerová¹, Daniel Martiník⁴, Dagmar Horáková³, Ladislav Štěpánek³, Lidmila Hamplová⁶, Kvetoslava Kotrbová⁷

¹ University of South Bohemia in České Budějovice, Faculty of Agriculture and Technology, Department of Food, Biotechnologies and Agricultural Products Quality, České Budějovice, Czech Republic

² Hospital of České Budějovice, a. s., Central Laboratories, České Budějovice, Czech Republic

³ Palacký University Olomouc, Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry, Department of Public Health, Olomouc, Czech Republic

⁴ Ambulance for Metabolic Assessment of prof. MUDr. Karel Martiník, DrSc., s.r.o., Hradec Králové, Czech Republic

⁵ University of South Bohemia in České Budějovice, Faculty of Science, Department of Medical Biology, České Budějovice, Czech Republic

⁶ Medical College, Prague 5, Czech Republic

⁷ Institute of Laboratory Diagnostics and Public Health, České Budějovice, Czech Republic

The study focused on the changes in C-peptide, glycemia, insulin concentration, and insulin resistance according to LDL-cholesterol concentration ranges. The metabolic profile of individuals in the Czech Republic (n = 1840) was classified by quartiles of LDL-cholesterol into four groups with the following ranges: 0.46-2.45 (n = 445), 2.46-3.00 (n = 474), 3.01-3.59 (n = 459), and 3.60-7.18 mmol/l (n = 462). The level of glucose, C-peptide, insulin, and area of parameters during OGTT and HOMA IR were compared with a relevant LDL-cholesterol range. The evaluation involved correlations between LDL-cholesterol and the above parameters, F-test and t-test. Generally, mean values of glucose homeostasis-related parameters were higher with increasing LDL-cholesterol levels, except for mean HOMA IR values which rapidly increased (2.7-3.4) between LDL-cholesterol ranges of 3.00-3.59 and 3.60-7.18 mmol/l. Glucose, C-peptide, insulin concentrations, and the area of parameters reached greater changes especially after glucose load during OGTT (p ≤ 0.001). Considerable changes were already observed for the above parameters between groups with LDL-cholesterol ranges of 2.46-3.00 and 3.01-3.59 mmol/l. HOMA IR increased with higher LDL-cholesterol concentrations, but the differences in mean values were not statistically significant. Most important differences appeared in glucose metabolism at LDL-cholesterol concentrations of 3.60-7.18 mmol/l in comparison to LDL-cholesterol lower ranges. In particular, the areas of C-peptide, glucose, and insulin ranges showed statistically significant differences between all groups with growing LDL-cholesterol ranges. The variances of HOMA IR statistically differed between groups created according to LDL-cholesterol concentrations ranges.

Keywords: C-peptide; Glucose; HOMA IR; Insulin; LDL-cholesterol

Grants and funding:

This research was funded by grant MS 2021+:CZ.02.01.01/ 00/23_021/000890.

Conflicts of interest:

The authors have no conflict of interest to declare.

Received: October 8, 2024; Revised: January 27, 2025; Accepted: February 24, 2025; Prepublished online: March 25, 2025; Published: March 27, 2025  Show citation