Erythrocyte deformability in diabetes mellitus.

: Erythrocyte filterability was measured on 34 diabetic patients and 43 normal subjects. Filterability index (FI) was expressed as FI = 10 x ratio of flow rate of suspension to buffer. Mean FI (mean +/- SE) of diabetics was significantly lower than that of the control group (3.47 +/- 0.09 vs 4.03 +/- 0.07, p less than 0.0001). Values of blood urea nitrogen, triglycerides, fasting and postprandial plasma glucose, HbAlc, white blood cell counts (WBC), and mean corpuscular hemoglobin concentration (MCHC) were higher in diabetics. However, mean corpuscular volume (MCV) of diabetics was lower than that of the control group (90.1 +/- 0.6 vs 93.4 +/- 0.6 fl, p less than 0.001), and MCV was positively correlated with FI in both groups. Blood urea nitrogen, triglycerides, fasting and postprandial plasma glucose, HbAlc, MCHC, WBC were correlated inversely with FI. Multiple linear regression analysis revealed FI = -0.00266 (fasting plasma glucose) -0.00164 (triglyceride) -0.00041 (blood urea nitrogen) +5.07 (n = 77, R = 0.61, p less than 0.05). Diabetic patients with cardiovascular complications had lower FI and MCV values; however they had higher triglyceride values than those without cardiovascular complications. In summary, RBC filterability of diabetic patients was lower than that of normal subjects. The defect could be due to myriads of metabolic derangement.