Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Multicenter Study
. 2025 Jul;62(7):1149-1156.
doi: 10.1007/s00592-025-02529-9. Epub 2025 Jun 5.

Correlation analysis between hemoglobin and type 2 diabetic nephropathy: a two-center retrospective study

Xiaoling Liu #  1 , Ze Zhang #  2 , Lu Lin  1 , Jinghui Li  1 , Bende Liu  3 , Xiangjin Xu  1 , Huaqian Chen  4 , Junwei Zhou  1 , Pin Chen  5   6
Affiliations
Multicenter Study

Correlation analysis between hemoglobin and type 2 diabetic nephropathy: a two-center retrospective study

Xiaoling Liu et al. Acta Diabetol. 2025 Jul.

Abstract

Objective: This study aimed to investigate the relationship between hemoglobin (Hb) levels and diabetic nephropathy (DN) in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM).

Methods: We recruited patients with T2DM from two centers, collected their clinical data, and analyzed the relationship between Hb levels and DN using binary logistic regression analysis and restricted cubic spline squares (RCS) plots.

Results: A total of 1956 patients with T2DM were enrolled, including 784 (40.1%) with DN. After adjusting for several confounding factors, the proportion of patients with DN in Q1 of Hb was significantly higher than that in the other group. The RCS curve revealed that Hb levels were inversely proportional to DN. Subgroup analysis demonstrated that age, gender, history of hypertension, history of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease and history of diabetic retinopathy exhibited no significant correlation with Hb levels and DN.

Conclusions: Low Hb level is closely associated with DN occurrence, and can be used as a predictive biomarker for DN.

Keywords: Biomarker; Diabetic nephropathy; Hemoglobin; Type 2 diabetes mellitus.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Declarations. Competing interests: The authors declare no competing financial or nonfinancial interests.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Flow chart for the screening of enrolled patients
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
RCS curve of the correlation between Hb level and DN
Fig. 3
Fig. 3
RCS curves of the association between Hb level and DN stratified by sex
Fig. 4
Fig. 4
Forest plots of the subgroup analyses
Fig. 5
Fig. 5
Hb level of patients with different CKD stages
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Similar articles

See all similar articles

References

    1. International Diabetes Federation Diabetes facts & figures. [Accessed 1 October 2020]. Available from https://idf.org/aboutdiabetes/what-is-diabetes/facts-figures.html
    1. Kato M, Natarajan R (2019) Epigenetics and epigenomics in diabetic kidney disease and metabolic memory. Nat Rev Nephrol 15(6):327–345 - PMC - PubMed
    1. Liang Y, Chen Q, Chang Y et al (2024) Critical role of FGF21 in diabetic kidney disease: from energy metabolism to innate immunity. Front Immunol 15:1333429 - PMC - PubMed
    1. Qi H, Casalena G, Shi S et al (2017) Glomerular endothelial mitochondrial dysfunction is essential and characteristic of diabetic kidney disease Susceptibility. Diabetes 66(3):763–778 - PMC - PubMed
    1. Cui S, Chen X, Li J et al (2024) Endothelial CXCR2 deficiency attenuates renal inflammation and glycocalyx shedding through NF-κB signaling in diabetic kidney disease. Cell Communication Signal 22(1):191 - PMC - PubMed

Publication types

LinkOut - more resources