A case–control study to evaluate hematological indices in blood of diabetic and non-diabetic individuals in Ibb City, Yemen

Diabetes mellitus (DM) is a chronic, metabolic illness characterized by an elevation of blood sugar levels. Patients with diabetes show changes in hematological indices. The study aimed to determine hematological indices, ESR, CRP, blood pressure (BP), and weight and their relationship with a fasting blood sugar (FBS) level and different variables in diabetic mellitus patients (DM) compared with healthy control (HC). A total of 202 participants (102 DM group and 100 HC group) were selected randomly. Data were collected using a questionnaire. Blood samples were collected from different places and investigated in Zain Medical Laboratories in Ibb City, Yemen (September 2022 to May 2023). GraphPad Prim was used to analyze the results. P-value ≤ 0.05 was considered statistically significant. The mean and standard deviation of age, weight, gender, residence, marital status, education levels, economic status, regular exercise, following a strict diet, and family history of diabetes revealed significant differences between DM and HC groups (P < 0.0001, P = 0001, P = 0.0027, P = 0.0002, P < 0.0001, P < 0.0001, P = 0.0002, P = 0.0011, P < 0.0001 and P = 0.0001, respectively). FBS results, systolic and diastolic BP, MCV, WBCs, monocytes, eosinophils, and platelets displayed significant differences between both groups (P < 0.0001, P < 0.0001 and P = 0.0404, P = 0.0191, P < 0.0001, P = 0.0253, P < 0.0001, and P = 0.0229, respectively). ESR exhibited statistical significance (P < 0.0001), while CRP displayed no significance. A Pearson's correlation showed that weight, Hb, RBCs, PCV, and WBCs were statistically negatively correlated with FBS whereas other hematological indices showed no correlation with FBS. In conclusion, DM patients had relatively higher levels of MCV, WBCs, eosinophils, platelets and ESR than the control group.