Cystatin C: An early marker of cardiac complications in diabetics

Introduction: Cardiovascular disease is one of the common complications of Diabetes mellitus. Serum Cystatin C level has been suggested as a marker for cardiac complications in diabetes. Material and Methods: We studied serum Cystatin C level in Diabetics to find if correlation exists between cardiac complications and elevated Cystatin C levels. Results: A total of 50 diabetics were studied out of whom 25 had cardiac complications and the rest did not have cardiac complications. No significant difference was observed between Serum Cystatin C levels of diabetics with cardiac complications (mean 1.5±0.45) and diabetics without cardiac complications (1.4±0.46) although Cystatin C levels were found to be elevated in diabetic cases. Conclusion: Keeping in view the significant difference (p=0.000) in Cystatin C levels of healthy and diabetic patients, it is reasonable to accept the importance of Cystatin C as an indicator of diabetes and its associated complications.