Baseline characteristics of patients with type 2 diabetes who received exenatide plus pioglitazone or insulin treatment
| Controls (n=18) | Exenatide plus pioglitazone (n=21) | Basal-bolus insulin (n=17) | P value | |||
| Age, years | 53.0±11.0 | 50.1 | ±9.4 | 54.9 | ±7.5 | 0.30 |
| Male, n (%) | 13/18 (72.2) | 11/21 | (52.4) | 12/17 | (70.6) | 0.35 |
| Duration of diabetes, years | NA | 10.0 | ±5.9 | 13.1 | ±9.3 | 0.24 |
| HbA1c, mmol/mol | 41.6±5.0 | 92.5 | ±18.8**** | 89.9 | ±22.5**** | <0.0001 |
| HbA1c, % | 6.0±0.5 | 10.6 | ±1.7**** | 10.4 | ±2.1**** | |
| Total cholesterol, mmol/L | 5.0±1.0 | 4.7 | ±0.6 | 5.3 | ±1.3 | 0.17 |
| Triglyceride, mmol/L | 1.4±0.5 | 2.0 | ±1.4 | 1.8 | ±1.0 | 0.37 |
| HDL, mmol/L | 1.2±0.3 | 1.3 | ±0.6 | 1.2 | ±0.4 | 0.87 |
| LDL, mmol/L | 3.2±0.9 | 2.6 | ±0.7 | 3.1 | ±1.0 | 0.10 |
| Systolic BP, mm Hg | 143.7±12.7 | 126.4 | ±17.9* | 130.8 | ±19.3 | 0.02 |
| Diastolic BP, mm Hg | 82.1±6.6 | 78.2 | ±13.9 | 77.6 | ±10.4 | 0.50 |
| Body weight, kg | 75.8±4.7 | 87.9 | ±19.5 | 84.3 | ±13.7 | 0.07 |
| BMI, kg/m2 | 28.8±3.4 | 32.4 | ±6.7 | 30.4 | ±5.9 | 0.2 |
| Diabetic retinopathy, n (%) | 5/16 | (31.3) | 4/9 | (44.4) | 0.51 | |
| Neuropathic pain, n (%) | 4/18 | (22.2) | 2/12 | (16.7) | 0.71 | |
| CNFD, fibers/mm2 | 33.7±5.7 | 26.1 | ±7.9** | 28.8 | ±9.1 | 0.01 |
| CNBD, branches/mm2 | 110.4±45.0 | 57.0 | ±31.6*** | 70.3 | ±31.2** | <0.001 |
| CNFL, mm/mm2 | 25.1±4.3 | 17.8 | ±4.9**** | 19.4 | ±5.7** | 0.0001 |
| VPT, V | 7.2±4.1 | 7.3 | ±4.6 | 11.4 | ±7.4 | 0.08 |
| ESC feet, µS | 66.9±18.4 | 59.8 | ±25.7 | 67.2 | ±12.0 | 0.55 |
Numeric variables and frequency distribution for categorical variables are summarized as means±SD or n (%). Variables were compared using one-way ANOVA except for duration of diabetes which was compared using unpaired t-test. Categorical variables were compared using χ2. Variables that were significantly different between controls and patients with T2D were denoted as *p≤0.05, **p≤0.01, ***p≤0.001, ****p≤0.0001.
BMI, body mass index; BP, blood pressure; CNBD, corneal nerve branch density; CNFD, corneal nerve fiber density; CNFL, corneal nerve fiber length; ESC, electrochemical skin conductance; HDL, high-density lipoprotein cholesterol; LDL, low-density lipoprotein cholesterol; NA, not available; T2D, type 2 diabetes; VPT, vibration perception threshold.