Comparison of Lipid Profiles among Diabetics and Non diabetics at a Semi-urban Primary Care Health Setting in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India: A Cross-sectional Study

Introduction: Lipids form an important constituent of the human cell membrane with wide functional importance. The alterations in lipid levels can result in an imbalance of the homeostatic reserve and, therefore, can result in a diseased state. Aim: To analyse and compare lipid profiles between diabetic and non diabetic individuals amongst the study group and find an association between diabetic status and lipid parameters. Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted in the Outpatient Department (OPD) of a primary care health setting, Sakthi Multi-speciality clinic, Poonamallee, Chennai, South India, between July 2024 to September 2024. The present study included 55 patients who attended a primary health care setting. A convenient consecutive sampling technique was followed in recruiting both male and female patients above 18 years of age with or without co-morbid illness. The elements of lipid profile analysis were presented as median and interquartile range. The Mann-Whitney U test was employed for comparing continuous variables between diabetic and non diabetic groups and Fisher’s exact test for associations between categorical variables. Kendall’s Tau-B correlation was used to assess associations among continuous variables within the diabetic subgroup. A p-value