The following is a summary of “Diabetes Mellitus is Associated With Higher Serum Neurofilament Light Chain Levels in the General US Population,” published in the February 2023 issue of Endocrinology & Metabolism by Ciardullo, et al.

Neuroaxonal injury, characterized by elevated serum neurofilament light chain (sNfL) levels, is a hallmark of various neurological diseases. However, the distribution of sNfL levels in the general population and its association with diabetes remained unclear. 

Researchers measured sNfL levels in 2,070 individuals from the general US population between the ages of 20 to 75 years. Among them, 275 had diabetes, and 1,795 did not have diabetes. They used a multivariable linear regression model to evaluate the association between diabetes and sNfL levels after adjusting for various factors such as age, sex, race-ethnicity, alcohol use, and kidney function. In addition, they evaluated the cognitive function of a subset of participants aged 60 to 75 years, using the Consortium to Establish a Registry for Alzheimer’s Disease-Word Learning test, the Animal Fluency test, and the Digit Symbol Substitution test.

The occurrence of diabetes was 10.4% in the analyzed population, with a 95% CI of 9.0% to 11.9%. Individuals with diabetes had higher levels of sNfL than those without diabetes across all age groups. As the sNfL levels increased, age, male gender, diabetes prevalence, and insulin resistance increased while the estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) decreased. A multivariable analysis revealed that age, sex, eGFR, alcohol use, and diabetes were all significantly related to sNfL levels. Additionally, higher levels of sNfL were linked to poorer performance on all three cognitive function tests.

The results suggested that diabetes is associated with higher sNfL levels, highlighting the potential utility of sNfL as a biomarker for neuroaxonal injury in individuals with diabetes. However, the study was limited by its cross-sectional design, and further large-scale and prospective studies were needed to validate the findings and investigate the ability of sNfL to predict neuropathy and dementia in people with diabetes.

Reference: academic.oup.com/jcem/article-abstract/108/2/361/6748485?redirectedFrom=fulltext