AUTHOR=Tai He , Jiang Xiao-lin , Yao Si-cheng , Liu Ye , Wei Hong , Li Ling-bing , Jiao Zeng-jin , Wang Tian-qing , Kuang Jin-song , Jia Lian-qun TITLE=Vascular Endothelial Function as a Valid Predictor of Variations in Pulmonary Function in T2DM Patients Without Related Complications JOURNAL=Frontiers in Endocrinology VOLUME=Volume 12 - 2021 YEAR=2021 URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/endocrinology/articles/10.3389/fendo.2021.622768 DOI=10.3389/fendo.2021.622768 ISSN=1664-2392 ABSTRACT=To assess the pulmonary function and vascular endothelial function variations during their early stages. Also, to analyze the correlation between vascular endothelial and pulmonary functions in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). A total of 162 subjects with T2DM who did not have diabetes complications were enrolled as the T2DM group, and 55 healthy subjects were enrolled as the control group, to assess the vascular endothelial and pulmonary function changes during the early stage and to evaluate the correlation between them. In our study, the T2DM group exhibited significantly lower pulmonary function when compared with the control group (P < 0.05). Similarly, T2DM group exhibited significantly lower flow-mediated dilation (FMD) and nitric oxide (NO) when compared with the control group (P < 0.05). Moreover, pulmonary functional indexes correlated positively with FMD and NO (P < 0.05) and correlated negatively with endothelin-1 (ET-1) (P < 0.05). Also, FMD and NO correlated negatively with diabetes duration and HbA1c (P < 0.05), ET-1 correlated positively with glycosylated hemoglobinA1c (HbA1c) and diabetes duration (P < 0.05), and pulmonary functional indexes negatively correlated with HbA1c and diabetes duration (P < 0.05). Utilizing multiple-linear regressions to analyze the relationship between vascular endothelial function indexes (FMD, ET-1, and NO) and pulmonary functional indexes indicated that every vascular endothelial function index (FMD, ET-1, and NO) was significantly correlated with pulmonary functional index (P < 0.05). T2DM patients presented early vascular endothelial and pulmonary function changes. The T2DM patients had impaired vascular endothelial functions which were characterized by reduced vascular endothelial function when compared with healthy people. Regulating glycemia may improve vascular endothelial and pulmonary functions. Furthermore, during the microvascular lesion preclinical stages, the vascular endothelial function indexes (FMD, ET-1, and NO) were valid predictors of pulmonary function changes in T2DM patients during early stage.