Introduction: Higher serum carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) was found in diabetic patients rather than controls. However, the prevalence of abnormal CEA among diabetic inpatients with a large proportion of poor glycemic control is unclear.
Methods: A total of 385 diabetic inpatients were included in this study. We collected information from a large clinical database. Patients with malignant tumors were excluded by examination and follow-up.
Results: We found a surprisingly high prevalence (14.3%) of diabetic inpatients with CEA above normal. The proportion of patients with abnormal CEA was significantly different in subgroups with different blood glucose levels, 20.4% in the HbA1c ≥ 9% group, and 8.5% in the HbA1c < 9%, p = 0.000. We found that the CEA levels were correlated with age, body mass index and HbA1c. The regression coefficient of HbA1c was the highest, B = 0.284, p = 0.000. We also found that the CEA levels were higher in diabetic inpatients with BMI < 24 kg/m2 than the overweight or obesity patients. There was a significant difference in the insulin level and C peptide level between the elevated CEA group and the non-elevated CEA group.
Conclusion: The elevation of CEA is common in diabetic inpatients, especially those with poor hyperglycemia controlled (HbA1c ≥ 9%). The underlying mechanism may be related to glucose toxicity.
Keywords: diabetic patients, CEA, carcinoembryonic antigen, hyperglycemic