Assessment of Lipid Profiles and Blood Glucose Level among Adult Asthmatic Patients with and without corticosteroid use attending at Aksum Comprehensive Specialized Referral Hospital, Tigray, Ethiopia, 2024/25: A Comparative Cross Sectional Study.

Abstract

Background: Corticosteroids are the most popular and successful asthma control medications, but their prolonged usage has been observed to affect and induce changes in blood glucose level and lipid profiles. Objective: The aim of this study was to assess the serum lipid profiles and blood glucose level among adult asthmatic patients with and without corticosteroid use at Aksum University Comprehensive Specialized Referral Hospital, Tigray, Ethiopia, 2024/25. Method: Hospital based comparative cross sectional study using convenience sampling technique was conducted to enroll 51 corticosteroid user asthmatic patients and another 51 asthmatic patients who were not on corticosteroid use attending Aksum University Comprehensive Specialized Referral hospital chronic, Emergency and inpatient treatment centers from January/2024 to May 30 /2025. The data obtained was entered, cleaned, categorized and analyzed using SPSS software version 25. Student's independent t-test was used to compare the results. A one-way ANOVA was used to compare the variation in the lipid profile and FBS between the types of corticosteroids. Linear regression was used to determine the changes in blood glucose and lipid profile in relation to the dose and duration of corticosteroid use. Findings were presented by texts, pictures and tables. Results: This study showed that the mean serum level of HDL-c, LDL-c, TC, TG and FBG in corticosteroid user asthmatic patients is 49.82±6.86, 90.99±9.79, 172.66±21.02, 124.34±14.58 and 96.56±10.63 respectively and it is 53.16±5.76, 86.11±6.06, 156.44±21.46, 113.09±12.30 and 89.40±7.90 respectively in non-corticosteroid user asthmatic patients. The result between the two groups is significantly different (P= 0.009, 0.003*, 0.000*, 0.000* and 0.001* respectively). Similarly the mean serum levels of HDL-c, LDL-c, TC, TG and FBG among the inhalational systemic and combined corticosteroid users is significantly different with P-value of P=0.000 for all. Conclusions: Corticosteroid user asthmatic patients had higher levels of FBS and higher mean serum levels of TC, TG, and LDL but lower mean serum HDL-c levels than non-user controls. The FBS and mean serum lipid profile is significantly different among the systemic, combined and inhalational corticosteroid users.