Background: In order to clarify previous ambiguous research conclusions, a meta-analysis was made to investigate the relationship between betatrophin levels in blood and type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM).
Methods: We have searched all the English and Chinese references regarding the relationship between betatrophin and diabetes in database both manually and online. Strict criteria have been established to include and exclude articles, with Mean and Standard Deviation as statistics to evaluate strength of association. We have chosen either fixed- or random effect model according to heterogeneity inspection results and used Begg's test and Egger's test to analyze publication bias.
Results: A total of 11 studies were included in this meta-analysis. Meta-analysis indicated a significant association between betatrophin and T2DM (Mean: 329.46; 95% confidence interval: 182.51 to 476.42, P < 0.0001). However, in the subgroup analysis, there was no significant statistic between betatrophin concentration and T2DM within Caucasian population (Mean: 98.40; 95% confidence interval: -1585.08 to 1781.88, P = 0.91).
Conclusions: Such relationship may suggest preference for association between betatrophin and T2DM in different population.