The correlation of dawn phenomenon with glycemic variability parameters in type 2 diabetes mellitus

Abstract Introduction. Dawn phenomenon could have deleterious effect on overall glycemic control. Glycemic variability may be an independent risk factor for the development of diabetes chronic complications. The study aimed to evaluate any correlations between the dawn phenomenon and parameters of glycemic variability in a cohort of type 2 diabetes patients (T2DM). Material and methods. This retrospective observational study included 131 T2DM patients. Continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) has been performed. Data from the first 24h of full recording were used for analysis of glycemic variability indices: mean level of 24h interstitial glucose value and standard deviation; % coefficient of variation; J index; mean amplitude of glycemic excursion - MAGE; continuous overall net glycemic action (CONGA) at 1, 2, 4 and 6 hours; mean of daily differences (MODD) index. Results. Mean age was 56.04 ± 9.91 years, 35.9% women, 17.6% on diet, 53.4% on oral therapy and 29% on insulin. Dawn phenomenon was more frequent in patients below 60 years (70%) and in oral therapy group (72.85%). Significant correlations between the dawn phenomenon and j-index, MAGE, CONGA-4 and CONGA-6 have been found in T2DM patients on diet therapy alone. The amplitude of dawn phenomenon was 46.10 ± 24.40 mg/dl and significantly correlated (p<0.05) after adjustment for age, gender and treatment with % CV, MAGE, CONGA-1, CONGA-2, CONGA-4, CONGA-6 and MODD. Conclusions. The dawn phenomenon significantly increases the glycemic variability parameters in drug-naive T2DM patients, with no impact in T2DM on oral or insulin therapy.