{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,26]],"date-time":"2026-08-26T20:27:53Z","timestamp":1787776073124,"version":"build-2784847793"},"reference-count":33,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"3","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,3,19]],"date-time":"2026-03-19T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1773878400000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"name":"University of Oradea"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Metabolites"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Background: Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) is characterized by chronic low-grade inflammation that contributes to cardiometabolic complications. While diabetes duration reflects cumulative metabolic exposure, its relationship with systemic inflammatory burden remains insufficiently defined. We aimed to investigate inflammatory patterns across diabetes duration and to explore their metabolic and cardio\u2013renal correlates. Methods: This real-world cross-sectional study included 250 adults with T2DM. Diabetes duration was analyzed both continuously and across four predefined strata (0\u20134, 5\u20139, 10\u201314, and \u226515 years). Inflammatory burden was assessed using C-reactive protein (CRP) and erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR). Given the skewed distribution of CRP, log-transformed CRP was used in regression analyses. Nonlinear associations were evaluated using quadratic regression models. This approach was selected because preliminary descriptive analyses suggested a non-monotonic relationship between diabetes duration and CRP levels. Inclusion of a quadratic term allowed formal testing of a potential curvilinear association between diabetes duration and inflammatory burden. Spearman correlations were performed to assess associations with metabolic, renal, and cardiovascular variables. Results: CRP showed a nonlinear cross-sectional association across diabetes duration strata. Median CRP values were higher in early (0\u20134 years: 0.62 mg\/L) and long-standing diabetes (\u226515 years: 0.77 mg\/L) compared with intermediate-duration groups (p = 0.063). Quadratic regression confirmed a U-shaped relationship (adjusted \u03b2_duration = \u22120.079, p &lt; 0.001; \u03b2_duration2 = 0.0027, p &lt; 0.001; R2 = 0.326). ESR differed significantly across duration strata (p = 0.002), with the highest levels observed in long-standing diabetes. CRP correlated positively with BMI (\u03c1 = 0.151; p = 0.017) and triglyceride-to-HDL ratio (\u03c1 = 0.215; p &lt; 0.001), but not with HbA1c. Both CRP and ESR were more strongly associated with functional CKD (\u03c1 = 0.350 and 0.429, respectively; p &lt; 0.001) than with ASCVD. Conclusions: Inflammatory burden in T2DM shows a nonlinear cross-sectional pattern across diabetes duration, characterized by elevated levels in early and long-standing disease. Systemic inflammation appears more closely linked to renal dysfunction than to established cardiovascular disease. These findings support a cardio\u2013renal\u2013inflammatory axis in which prolonged diabetes exposure contributes to renal decline, which in turn amplifies systemic inflammatory activation.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/metabo16030202","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,3,19]],"date-time":"2026-03-19T08:54:37Z","timestamp":1773910477000},"page":"202","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":2,"title":["Inflammatory Load Across Diabetes Duration: CRP and ESR Patterns and Their Metabolic Correlates"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"16","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-1743-1571","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Roxana Daniela","family":"Brata","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Clinical Discipline, Faculty of Medicine and Pharmacy, University of Oradea, 410068 Oradea, Romania"},{"name":"Clinical County Emergency Hospital Bihor, 410169 Oradea, Romania"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-5071-9601","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Cosmin Mihai","family":"Vesa","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Doctoral School of Biomedical Sciences, Faculty of Medicine and Pharmacy, University of Oradea, 410087 Oradea, Romania"},{"name":"Department of Preclinical Discipline, Faculty of Medicine and Pharmacy, University of Oradea, 410068 Oradea, Romania"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-6386-4442","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Madalina Ioana","family":"Moisi","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Preclinical Discipline, Faculty of Medicine and Pharmacy, University of Oradea, 410068 Oradea, Romania"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-8981-1958","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Timea Claudia","family":"Ghitea","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Pharmacy Department, Faculty of Medicine and Pharmacy, University of Oradea, 410068 Oradea, Romania"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-3574-6964","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Nicolae Ovidiu","family":"Pop","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Preclinical Discipline, Faculty of Medicine and Pharmacy, University of Oradea, 410068 Oradea, Romania"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Carmen","family":"Pantis","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Preclinical Discipline, Faculty of Medicine and Pharmacy, University of Oradea, 410068 Oradea, Romania"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,3,19]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Galicia-Garcia, U., Benito-Vicente, A., Jebari, S., Larrea-Sebal, A., Siddiqi, H., Uribe, K.B., Ostolaza, H., and Mart\u00edn, C. 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