Occurrence of Increased Arterial Stiffness in a Cohort of Adult Patients with Type 1 Diabetes Mellitus when Compared to Normoglycemic Controls

The prevalence of cardiovascular risk factors among patients with type 1 diabetes is underestimated. This study was conducted to assess the cardiovascular risk by comparing arterial stiffness in type 1 diabetes with that of controls. Thirty-one type 1 diabetes patients and 31 age- and gender-matched controls were included. The brachial-ankle pulse wave velocity (ba-PWV) was measured using Periscope, a noninvasive device. The ba-PWV was found to be significantly elevated among the patients with diabetes (1177.09 ± 180.1 cm/s) when compared with the controls (1057.99 ± 95.8 cm/s) (P = .003). The ba-PWV showed positive correlation with age (r = .43, P = .014), heart rate (r = .49, P = .005), blood pressure (r = .65, P < .001), and LDL (r = .46, P = .008) among patients with diabetes. Linear regression analysis revealed that diabetes, age, systolic blood pressure (SBP), and BMI were independently associated with ba-PWV (R (2) = .589). On subdividing the diabetes cohort into quintiles for LDL and SBP, a substantial increase in ba-PWV was seen at LDL > 102 mg/dl (1187.8 cm/s to 1364.9 cm/s, P = .09) and SBP > 130 mmHg (1176.1 cm/s to 1369.4 cm/s, P = .03). Arterial stiffness as assessed by ba-PWV is significantly increased among patients with type 1 diabetes compared to healthy controls, independent of traditional cardiovascular risk factors. Early screening for arterial stiffness using a cheap and effective method among patients with SBP > 130 mmHg and LDL > 102 mg/dl may help identify those with heightened cardiovascular risk.