Annual Decline in Β‐cell Function in Patients with Type 2 Diabetes in China

Background The aim of this study was to investigate the annual decline of beta-cell function correlated with disease duration in patients with type 2 diabetes in China. Methods This cross-sectional study included 4792 adults with type 2 diabetes who were recruited from four university hospital diabetes clinics between April 2018 and November 2018. Baseline data were collected from electric medical records. Participants were divided into 21 groups with 1-year diabetes duration interval to assess the decline rate of beta-cell function. Homeostatic model assessment model (HOMA 2) model was applied to assess beta-cell function. Multiple linear regression model was used to evaluate the association between biochemical and clinical variables and beta-cell function. Results In Chinese patients with type 2 diabetes,beta-cell function declined by 2% annually. Using angiotensin receptor blockade (ARB) (beta= .048;P= .011), metformin (beta= .138;P= .021), or insulin (beta= .142;P= .018) was associated with increased beta-cell function. However, increased BMI (beta= -.215;P= .022), alcohol consumption (beta= -.331;P< .001), haemoglobin A1c (beta= -.104;P= .027), or increased diabetes duration (beta= -.183;P= .003) was significantly and negatively associated with beta-cell function. Conclusions We determined that the annual rate of the beta-cell function decline was 2% in patients with type 2 diabetes in China. Moreover, we confirmed a positive relationship between ARB treatment and beta-cell function, while BMI and alcohol consumption were significantly and negatively associated with the beta-cell function.