Searchable abstracts of presentations at key conferences in endocrinology
Endocrine Abstracts (2012) 29 OC19.2

ICEECE2012 Oral Communications Cardiovascular Endocrinology (6 abstracts)

Increased arterial stiffness is independently associated with cerebral infarctions and white matter lesions in patients with type 2 diabetes despite good blood pressure and lipid control

E. Laugesen 1 , P. Høyem 1 , B. Grøn 2 , A. Mikkelsen 2 , W. Kim 2 , S. Thrysøe 2 , M. Erlandsen 4 , J. Christiansen 1 , S. Knudsen 1 , K. Hansen 3 , T. Hansen 1 & P. Poulsen 1


1Aarhus University Hospital, Aarhus, Denmark; 2Aarhus University Hospital Skejby, Aarhus, Denmark; 3Regional Hospital Silkeborg, Silkeborg, Denmark; 4Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark\.


Aim: Patients with type 2 diabetes (T2DM) have increased risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD) including stroke. The risk of CVD is traditionally assessed using office blood pressure (BP) and lipid profile. Increased arterial stiffness predicts cardiovascular events in the general population. We investigated if arterial stiffness was associated with cerebrovascular disease in patients with T2DM and sex- and age-matched controls indepentl y of classical risk factors.

Methods: patients with newly diagnosed T2DM and Ninety sex- and age- matched controls were examined. Arterial stiffness was assessed by aortic pulse wave velocity (PWV), and cerebrovascular disease by cerebral infarctions and severity of white matter lesions (WMLs) on MRI scans of cerebrum. A blinded reviewer rated WMLs a.m. Breteler (no/slight changes=0, moderate=1, severe=2).

Results: Antihypertensive treatment and lipid lowering treatment was more frequent in diabetic patients, who consequently had lower office BP (126+/− 12 vs 131+/−14 mmHg systolic, P=0.01) and lower lipid levels. Despite this, diabetic patients had significantly higher PWV compared to controls, (9.2+/−2.0 vs 8.0+/−1.6 m/s, P<0.0001). PWV was higher in patients with cerebral infarctions (9.9 vs 8.5 m/s, P=0.002) and PWV increased across Breteler categories (8.2+/− 1.7 vs 9.3+/−2.0 vs 9.4+/−2.1 m/s, P<0.001 for trend).

PWV remained independently associated with severity of WMLs (P<0.01) and cerebral infarctions, (P<0.02) after adjustment for the following covariates: age, sex, diabetes, mean arterial pressure, smoking, statins and BMI in multivariate regression.

Conclusion: Despite good BP and lipid control, PWV was substantially higher in T2DM patients. PWV is independently associated with WMLs and cerebral infarctions. PWV may represent a clinically relevant parameter in the evaluation of CVD risk in T2DM.

Declaration of interest: The authors declare that there is no conflict of interest that could be perceived as prejudicing the impartiality of the research project.

Funding: This work was supported, however funding details are unavailable.

Volume 29

15th International & 14th European Congress of Endocrinology

European Society of Endocrinology 

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