Relationship between diabetes mellitus and blood viscosity as measured by the digital microcapillary® system

Chronic hyperglycemia in diabetes mellitus (DM) increases the risk of cardiovascular complications, including stroke. Blood viscosity is elevated in stroke; therefore, there may also be a relationship between DM and blood viscosity that influences stroke risk. This cross-sectional study compared blood viscosity and non-fasting blood glucose among three groups, diabetes patients and non-DM controls visiting the Integrated Community Health Post (Posbindu) East Pisangan primary healthcare clinic in January and March 2015 (collectively the Posbindu group) and healthy controls from a previous study on blood viscosity in stroke. Blood viscosity was examined by the Digital Microcapillary® system, a recently developed tool allowing for rapid and cost-effective measurement at local clinics. Blood viscosity was significantly higher in diabetes patients compared to the healthy controls (p = 0.000). However, there was no significant correlation between blood glucose and blood viscosity (p = 0.221) or a relationship between DM and blood viscosity among the Posbindu group (p = 0.566). This discrepancy may have been caused by other risk factors influencing blood viscosity in our non-DM controls. Further study is needed to identify these confounding factors. These results suggest that risk factors for high blood viscosity (aside from DM) are common in East Pisangan. In addition, the Digital Microcapillary® system proved effective for blood viscosity screening at a local healthcare clinic.