Prediabetes is a relatively common medical problem that is supposed to precede the development of diabetes
mellitus. Many trials have been performed to predict the transformation of prediabetes into frank diabetes
mellitus depending on the alterations in certain biomarkers related to inflammation. The current study aims to
estimate serum interleukin-6 (IL-6) in individuals with impaired fasting glucose and compare it to that of patients
with new-onset type 2 diabetes mellitus. Methods: This cross-sectional study enrolled 159 randomly selected
participants who were equally classified according to their history and laboratory findings into healthy control,
prediabetes and newly diagnosed diabetes mellitus groups. Serum IL-6 was measured in all participants and
statistically compared and correlated with body mass index (BMI) and glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c). Results:
The mean serum IL-6 has shown no significant difference between the control and prediabetes groups while it
was significantly higher in the diabetes group compared to both control and prediabetes groups. In addition,
a poor correlation has been revealed between serum IL-6 and HbA1c. Conclusion: The absence of a sustained
increase in serum IL-6 in the 3 studied groups questions its beneficial role as a predictor of the progression of
type 2 diabetes from the prediabetes state.
Keywords: IL-6, diabetes mellitus, prediabetes, HbA1c.