Early blood pressure alterations are associated with pro-inflammatory markers in type 1 diabetes mellitus

The aim of this study was to evaluate the relationship between early blood pressure (bp) changes (detected using ambulatory bp monitoring; abpm) with different markers of inflammation and endothelial dysfunction in patients with type 1 diabetes mellitus (t1dm). the study design was observational cross-sectional in 85 t1dm patients, clinically normotensive and with normo-albuminuria. we analyzed the relationships between abpm-measured bp alterations over 24 h with the inflammatory cytokines (interleukin-6 (il-6), tumor necrosis factor-α and vascular endothelial growth factor (vegf)) and the markers of endothelial damage (vascular adhesion molecule, intercellular adhesion molecule and plasminogen activator inhibitor-1 (pai)). despite being recorded as normotensive, 27 (31.8%) subjects presented with an average of pathological bp. vegf levels were significantly elevated in the patients with an altered mean diurnal values compared with normotensives (112.33 (72.87–213.53) pg ml−1 vs 71.03 (37.71–107.92) pg ml−1; p=0.007). further, vegf levels correlated significantly with the parameters of diurnal bp and of 24 h values. il-6 concentration was a risk factor in the patients with hypertension (or=1.406; p=0.027). there were no modifications in the levels of markers of endothelial damage. summarizing, there is an increase in pro-inflammatory cytokines, but not the endothelial adhesion molecules, in early stages of arterial hypertension in patients with t1dm.