CA 19-9 is associated with poor glycemic control in diabetic patients: role of insulin resistance.

Abstract CA19-9 is considered a tumor marker. Reports have suggested higher CA19-9 levels in diabetic patients even with no malignancy. Our aim was to reveal the relation of CA19-9 with glycemic control in diabetic and non-diabetic subjects. For the first time we considered diabetes as an outcome based on a cut-off where the association of CA19-9 with diabetes is considerable. The study was carried out at an outpatient metabolism clinic. A total of 422 consecutive participants were enrolled. Subjects with prior diagnosis of any cancer, renal, endocrine, or hepatic problems were not included. Age, gender, and medications as well as weight, height, and BMI were recorded. Creatinine, fasting plasma glucose (FPG), post-prandial plasma glucose (PPPG), fasting plasma insulin, HbA1c, C-peptide, HOMA-IR, and CA 19-9 were measured. In all, 266 (63.03%) subjects had recently been diagnosed with diabetes. CA19-9 was significantly higher in the diabetic group (16.73 +/- 13.83 vs. 11.93 +/- 11.42, p