The Role of Glycemic Variability in Cardiovascular Disorders

Abstract

Diabetes mellitus (DM) is one of the most common and costly disorders that affect humans around the world. Recently, clinicians and scientists have focused their studies on the effects of glycemic variability (GV), which is especially associated with cardiovascular diseases. In healthy subjects, glycemia is a very stable parameter, while in poorly controlled DM patients, it oscillates greatly throughout the day and between days. Clinically, GV could be measured by different parameters, but there are no guidelines on standardized assessment. Nonetheless, DM patients with high GV experience worse cardiovascular disease outcomes. In vitro and in vivo studies showed that high GV causes several detrimental effects, such as increased oxidative stress, inflammation, and apoptosis linked to endothelial dysfunction. However, the evidence that treating GV is beneficial is still scanty. Clinical trials aiming to improve the diagnostic and prognostic accuracy of GV measurements correlated with cardiovascular outcomes are needed. The present review aims to evaluate the clinical link between high GV and cardiovascular diseases, taking into account the underlined biological mechanisms. A clear view of this challenge may be useful to standardize the clinical evaluation and to better identify treatments and strategies to counteract this DM aspect.

Keywords: cardiovascular disease; diabetes; glycemic variability; translational studies.

Figure 1

In vivo mouse and rat models used to study the effects of glucose in the cardiovascular system and the respective obtained results.

Figure 2

In vitro endothelial models used the effects of glucose in the cardiovascular system and the respective obtained results. HUVEC: human umbilical vein endothelial cells; HCAEC: human coronary artery endothelial cells; HREC: human retinal endothelial cells.