Research progress on cortisol levels and rhythm in type 2 diabetes mellitus and its complications

doi:10.3877/cma.j.issn.2095-655X.2026.01.010

Abstract

Abstract:

At present, the prevalence of type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) continues to rise, and the prevention and treatment of its multi-system complications have become a major public health challenge. In addition to traditional risk factors such as abnormal glucose and lipid metabolism, abnormal cortisol secretion levels and rhythm disorders caused by hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis dysfunction have increasingly attracted attention in the onset and progression of T2DM and its complications. The authors systematically review the clinical evidence on the impact of abnormal cortisol levels and rhythm disorders on the risk of T2DM, summarize the typical changes in cortisol levels and rhythms in T2DM patients, and focus on elaborating the associations between the two and the cerebrovascular diseases, microvascular diseases, and musculoskeletal system diseases related to T2DM, with the aim of providing a theoretical basis for deeply revealing its mechanism and exploring prevention and treatment strategies that take cortisol levels and rhythms as dual assessment targets.

Key words: Cortisol, Cortisol rhythm, Diabetes mellitus, type 2, Diabetes complications, Hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis

Kemin Su, Jing Sun, Shuo Yang, Yanying Li, Mei Zhang, Fupeng Liu. Research progress on cortisol levels and rhythm in type 2 diabetes mellitus and its complications[J]. Chinese Journal of Diagnostics(Electronic Edition), 2026, 14(01): 66-70.

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