We showed association of the minor allele C of rs10946398 (Odds Ratio (OR) = 1.21, 95% CI = 1.04-1.4, P = 0.016), allele C of rs7754840 (OR = 1.18, 95% CI = 1.01-1.37, P = 0.038), and allele G of rs7756992 (OR = 1.21, 95% CI = 1.04-1.42, P = 0.017) with higher diabetes risk thereby replicating the predisposing role of CDKAL1 in etiology of T2D.
Meta-analysis indicated significant association between the IGF2BP2 rs4402960 and CDKAL1 rs7756992 polymorphisms and increased risk of diabetes in Arab populations.
Cohort (1) consisted of 380 patients with DR and 613 patients with diabetes for ≥5 years but without DR. Cohort (2) consisted of 545 patients with DR and 929 patients with diabetes for ≥5 years but without DR. A meta-analysis combining the results of stage 1 and 2 revealed a significant association between rs7756992 and DR, with the minor allele A conferring a lower risk of DR (OR 0.824, 95% CI 0.743-0.914, P = 2.46 × 10<sup>-4</sup>).
Furthermore, the rs7756992 was found to be associated with the reduced risk of diabetic nephropathy in patients with diabetes (OR = 0.44, 95% CI = 0.27-0.73, P = 0.001).
Linear regression analysis showed that per allele reductions of hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c) after 3 months were -0.10% for rs7754840 (p = 0.02) and -0.13% for rs7756992 (p = 0.0008) after adjusting for clinically influential covariates such as age, sex, BMI, duration of diabetes, baseline HbA1c and concomitant anti-diabetic agents.