Skin autofluorescence is associated with early-stage atherosclerosis in patients with type 1 diabetes

Aim: accumulation level of fluorescent advanced glycation end products (ages) in the skin can be measured non-invasively as skin autofluorescence (skin af) by autofluorescence reader. the aim of this study was to assess possible associations between skin af and diabetic complications,especially early-stage atherosclerosis,in japanese type 1 diabetic patients. methods: skin af was measured by age reader® in 105 japanese type 1 diabetic patients (34 men and 71 women,aged 37.4±12.4 years (±sd)) and 23 age-matched healthy non-diabetic subjects. ultrasonic carotid intima-media thickness (imt),ankle-brachial index (abi),and brachial ankle pulse wave velocity (bapwv) were evaluated as indices of early-stage diabetic macroangiopathy. urinary albumin-to-creatinine ratio (uacr),the coefficient of variation of r-r intervals (cvr-r),and presence of retinopathy were also evaluated. results: skin af values were significantly higher in type 1 diabetic patients than in healthy controls (2.07±0.50 (mean±sd) and 1.90±0.26,respectively,p=0.024). skin af was associated with carotid imt (r =0.446,p＜0.001) and bapwv (r =0.450,p＜0.001),but not with abi (r =－0.019,p =0.8488). notably,skin af was an independent risk factor for imt thickening. similarly,skin af was associated with log (uacr) (r =0.194,p =0.049) and was an independent risk factor for uacr. furthermore,skin af values were significantly higher in patients with diabetic retinopathy than in those without (2.21±0.08 and 1.97±0.06,respectively,p =0.020). conclusions: skin af was significantly associated with the presence and/or severity of diabetic complications and was an independent risk factor for carotid atherosclerosis. © 2017 japan atherosclerosis society.