In the present study of type 2 diabetes participants in the VADT, we found a significant association between both low and high baseline C-peptide levels and greater risk for CVD. The association between low C-peptide and CVD risk was present despite more favorable standard cardiovascular risk factors, such as BMI, history of hypertension, dyslipidemia, smoking, and prior CVD. As a result, adjustment for these typical risk factors further strengthened the association between low C-peptide levels and CVD. Low C-peptide levels were, however, associated with increased visit-to-visit glucose variation and severe hypoglycemia over 7.5 years of the VADT follow-up, regardless of the glycemic control targets in the glucose lowering trial. Each of these components of glucose control has been linked with CVD risk or mortality in glucose-lowering trials [16, 17, 19–21], and could explain in part the relationship of C-peptide with this outcome. Closer examination of these relationships revealed that low C-peptide levels were associated with CVD independently of both prospective glucose control measures, indicating other mechanisms may explain the association between low C-peptide levels and increased CVD risk.
Pathways by which low C-peptide concentrations may be related to CVD risk could include disturbances in glucose control that were not captured in the VADT, such as non-fasting glucose fluctuations or unrecognized hypoglycemic episodes. Alternatively, several previous experimental studies indicated direct beneficial effects of C-peptide on the vasculature, which could be lost in the setting of very low C-peptide levels. In animal models of type 1 diabetes, physiological supplementation of C-peptide protected against hyperglycemia-induced endothelial cell apoptosis [27], and normalized hyperglycemia-induced AMPKα dephosphorylation, ROS generation, and mitochondrial disorganization in aorta of diabetic mice [28]. Supraphysiological levels of C-peptide prevent smooth muscle cell proliferation and neointima formation [29], and in a small study of humans with type 1 diabetes, short-term C-peptide infusion improved myocardial blood flow and left-ventricular function [30].
To our knowledge, this is the first study to report an association between C-peptide levels and long-term visit-to-visit glucose variation. This is consistent with reports from several small cohorts of type 2 diabetes patients where within day variation was assessed by continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) [11–13]. The increase in visit-to-visit glucose variation in those in the bottom C-peptide quartile in our study remained significant after adjusting for baseline insulin use. Furthermore, there was no significant interaction of C-peptide quartiles with insulin use (versus no insulin use) in the association with glucose variation. Thus, these data indicate that the greater glucose variation in the low C-peptide group is likely not simply a function of insulin use.
An additional interesting finding in this study was that even in this rather homogenous group of older individuals with advanced type 2 diabetes who remained hyperglycemic despite several diabetes medications, there was a strikingly different clinical phenotype across C-peptide levels. Those with the highest C-peptide values (defined as quartiles in the present analysis) had multiple characteristics of insulin resistance such as higher body weight, plasma triglycerides levels, prevalence of hypertension, and lower plasma HDL levels. Consistent with this risk profile, they also had a higher prevalence of CVD at study enrolment, and a positive relationship between C-peptide and CVD as one moved to higher C-peptide levels. These findings are in line with previous studies showing increased risk of microvascular and macrovascular complications, as well as all-cause mortality with higher concentrations of C-peptide in mixed populations (with and without type 2 diabetes) or in those with early type 2 diabetes, i.e., individuals with relatively preserved beta-cell function [5–8]. In contrast, those with low C-peptide levels were less obese, had relatively normal lipid levels, and required more frequent use of insulin; thus, this group appeared to share more type 1 diabetes characteristics. Consistent with our finding of higher CVD risk in our low C-peptide group, individuals with type 1 diabetes with greater beta-cell damage (as indicated by lower C-peptide levels) are at higher risk of diabetes complications [31, 32]. Similar to type 1 diabetes, reduced beta-cell function in our low C-peptide group manifested in higher HbA1c, glucose variation and rates of severe hyperglycemia.
Our results suggest that this phenotype (with some type 1 diabetes features) may be present in a surprising portion of patients with advanced type 2 diabetes. Consistent with the relatively more type 1 diabetes phenotype, the fasting C-peptide levels in the lower range indicated a beta-cell dysfunction not too dissimilar from type 1 diabetes (typically <0.25 nmol/l) [33]. Some of these individuals diagnosed with type 2 diabetes may deserve to be classified within other diabetes categories, including latent autoimmune diabetes of adults (LADA), ketone-prone diabetes (KPD) or double diabetes [34]. In a nested case-control cohort from the ACCORD trial, those with low C-peptide levels had higher rates of testing positive for several islet antibodies and increased risk of severe hypoglycemia [14]. These findings of a spectrum of phenotypes within the broader category of type 2 diabetes is consistent with growing genetic evidence of sub-phenotypes of diabetes [35]. Recognition of these differences may affect medication selection and other health care decisions. For example, use of insulin sensitizers in this low C-peptide group may be less useful than insulin or compounds promoting insulin secretion. Although insulin supplementation may be appropriate in these individuals to improve glycemic control, it will also increase the risk of hypoglycemia and, as discussed above, may not limit glucose variation. This may therefore also be a group that may benefit more from use of continuous glucose monitoring to better adjust treatment regimens to reduce hypoglycemia and glucose fluctuations. Finally, adding medications with known cardioprotective action may help reduce the risk of CVD in this relatively higher risk group.
Our analysis also showed a significantly higher proportion of self-reported African Americans among those with low C-peptide levels. This is consistent with data from the NHANES III cohort in African Americans without diabetes [36]. In previous studies, African Americans without diabetes and black African men with early diabetes exhibited lower insulin secretion compared with their White counterparts for their given insulin sensitivity for glucose metabolism [37, 38].
This study has several strengths. Standardized protocols were used in the VADT for treatment of diabetes and other risk factors, reducing the likelihood for bias in treatment among the different quartiles of individuals. The sample size and duration of follow-up go beyond other studies for assessment of C-peptide levels, measures of glucose control and CVD assessment and adjudication. Key study metrics were measured prospectively every 3 months for the entire study duration with standardized protocols for measurement of fasting glucose, HbA1c and other risk factors. The VADT also included extensive collection of data on diabetes and non-diabetes medication use, as well as careful adjudication of events, including the composite CVD outcome and severe hypoglycemia. The large sample size and number of events allowed robust statistical analyses with adjustment for many relevant covariates. The frequency of visits allowed use of time-varying estimates for glucose variation or severe hypoglycemia in the Cox models up until the CVD event.
The typical participant in the VADT was male with known CVD or at high risk for subsequent CVD. Therefore, it is unclear if our findings will be generalizable in cohorts with a larger proportion of females or less underlying CVD risk. Our study relied on fasting measures of glycemic control at study visits and therefore cannot provide additional critical information on short-term glucose variation that will better capture and reflect postprandial changes in glucose. The VADT trial also did not collect information on participants’ compliance with behavioral measures that could have influenced diabetes outcomes.
In conclusion, both low and high C-peptide levels were associated with CVD risk in this population. Contrary to our hypothesis, greater glucose variation or severe hypoglycemia did not explain the association between low C-peptide levels and CVD, suggesting additional mechanisms may link low C-peptide with increased CVD. Thus, C-peptide measurement may be a useful indicator of future glycemic control patterns and CVD risk and may identify phenotypic differences that could be relevant for clinical decision making in advanced type 2 diabetes.