Infrared spectroscopy technique: An alternative technology for diabetes diagnosis

Diabetes is a metabolic disorder characterized by a chronic increase in glucose caused by autoimmune destruction of the cells that produce insulin or by tissue resistance to this hormone. Although it is not a fatal disease, it can cause cardiovascular and renal complications, and retinopathy, among others, causing a drastic deterioration in the health of the patient. Diabetes is listed as one of the seven diseases that cause the most deaths and that affects people of any community, sex, and age. Current methods for diagnosing can be problematic because it involves taking blood samples, often causing control studies to be omitted. These methods are very invasive and many times the disease is not detected until it is advanced. For this reason, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy has been positioned as a novel method to accurately and non-invasively detect diabetes, as well as the application of different chemometric methods to improve the accuracy of the technique. Although diverse types of samples, biomolecules, and chemometric analysis are used, there is no unified assay for its detection. Therefore, more research is needed to establish a single useful protocol that can be implemented in clinical settings. In this review, recent research on the use of this technique for the detection of diabetes using different fluids and analysis of different biomarkers is summarized together with the critical evaluation of improving the potential to improve and revolutionize how it is diagnosed, allowing a simpler, faster, and more accurate analysis.

Automated summary

Diabetes is a chronic metabolic disorder characterized by an increase in glucose caused by autoimmune destruction of insulin-producing cells or tissue resistance to insulin. It can lead to cardiovascular and renal complications, as well as retinopathy, causing a significant decline in the patient's health. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy has emerged as a non-invasive method to accurately detect diabetes, and chemometric methods can improve its accuracy. However, there is currently no unified assay for its detection, and more research is needed to establish a single protocol for clinical settings.