Resumen de Arterial Stiffness Is Increased in Patients With Type 1 Diabetes Without Cardiovascular Disease: A potential role of low-grade inflammation
Gemma Llauradó Cabot, Victória Ceperuelo Mallafré, C. Vilardell, Rafael Simó Canonge, Núria Freixenet, Joan Vendrell Ortega, José Miguel González-Clemente
To investigate the relationship between arterial stiffness and low-grade inflammation in subjects with type 1 diabetes without clinical cardiovascular disease. Sixty-eight patients with type 1 diabetes and 68 age- and sex-matched healthy subjects were evaluated. Arterial stiffness was assessed by aortic pulse wave velocity (aPWV). Serum concentrations of high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hsCRP), interleukin (IL)-6, and soluble fractions of tumor necrosis factor-a receptors 1 and 2 (sTNFaR1 and sTNFaR2, respectively) were measured. All statistical analyses were stratified by sex. Subjects with diabetes had a higher aPWV compared with healthy control subjects (men: 6.9 vs. 6.3 m/s, P < 0.001; women: 6.4 vs. 6.0 m/s, P = 0.023). These differences remained significant after adjusting for cardiovascular risk factors. Men with diabetes had higher concentrations of hsCRP (1.2 vs. 0.6 mg/L; P = 0.036), 1L-6 (0.6 vs. 0.3 pg/mL; P = 0.002), sTNFaR1 (2,739 vs. 1 ,410 pg/mL; P < 0.001), and sTNFaR2 (2,774 vs. 2,060 pg/mL; P < 0.001). Women with diabetes only had higher concentrations of 1L-6 (0.6 vs. 0.4 pg/mL; P = 0.039). In men with diabetes, aPWV correlated positively with hsCRP (r = 0.389; P = 0.031) and IL-6 (r = 0.447; P = 0.008), whereas in women with diabetes no significant correlation was found. In men, multiple linear regression analysis showed that the following variables were associated independently with aPWV: age, BMI, type 1 diabetes, and low-grade inflammation (R^sup 2^ = 0.543). In women, these variables were age, BMI, mean arterial pressure, and type 1 diabetes (R^sup 2^ = 0.550). Arterial stiffness assessed as aPWV is increased in patients with type 1 diabetes without clinical cardiovascular disease, independently of classical cardiovascular risk factors. In men with type 1 diabetes, low-grade inflammation is independently associated with arterial stiffness.
