Evaluation of Antioxidant Status in Type 2 Diabetes Patients Attending Madonna University Teaching Hospital

Abstract

Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) is a chronic metabolic condition characterised by persistent hyperglycemia, insulin resistance and increasing pancreatic β-cell dysfunction. Increased oxidative stress and poor antioxidant defense are critical factors implicated in the development and progression of diabetes problems. This study investigated certain selected antioxidant enzyme activities in patients with T2DM visiting Madonna University Teaching Hospital, Elele, Rivers State, Nigeria. A cross-sectional case-control study design was conducted using 115 participants including 69 patients with T2DM and 46 seemingly healthy non-diabetic controls. All individuals had venous blood samples obtained after an overnight fast. The activities of serum catalase (CAT), superoxide dismutase (SOD) and glutathione peroxidase (GPx) were measured by standard spectrophotometric procedures (Misra and Fridovich for SOD; Sinha for CAT). Data were analysed using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS), version 23.0, and expressed as mean ± standard deviation. Differences between the diabetic and control groups were assessed using Student’s t-test, with statistical significance set at p < 0.05. The results showed significantly lower CAT activity in patients with T2DM (65.48 ± 6.70 U/L) compared with controls (84.92 ± 9.96 U/L) (p < 0.001). Similarly, SOD activity was significantly reduced in the diabetic group (39.89 ± 2.60 U/L) compared with the control group (63.95 ± 6.22 U/L) (p < 0.001). GPx activity was also significantly lower among patients with T2DM (21.33 ± 16.70 U/L) than among controls (26.37 ± 20.02 U/L) (p < 0.001). These findings demonstrate a significant reduction in key antioxidant enzyme activities among patients with T2DM, suggesting compromised endogenous antioxidant defense and increased susceptibility to oxidative stress. Assessment of antioxidant enzymes may therefore provide useful biochemical information for understanding oxidative imbalance in T2DM and may complement conventional clinical parameters in the evaluation of disease-related metabolic disturbances.