Endocrine Abstracts

JOINT1325

Purpose: The relationship between pediatric obesity or Type 1 Diabetes Mellitus and cardiovascular disease in adulthood is well established, with the pathophysiological mechanisms being already present in childhood. Arterial stiffness is a strong, independent predictor of cardiovascular disease in adulthood and the most widely accepted method for its evaluation is Pulse Wave Velocity (PWV). We evaluated PWV in children and adolescents with T1DM or excess weight, in order to detect subclinical vascular alterations at a very early stage.

Methods: A total of 199 children and adolescents aged 2-18 years participated in the study, including 96 with T1DM, 49 with overweight or obesity, and 54 healthy controls. PWV was measured using the automated oscillometric device Mobil-O-Graph.

Results: Systolic BP (SBP) and central SBP (cSBP) were significantly increased in both patients with overweight/obesity and those with T1DM compared to controls. Furthermore, overweight/obesity patients had higher SBP, cSBP and cDBP compared to T1DM patients, whereas DBP was significantly increased only in overweight/obesity patients compared to controls. Pulse wave velocity values were also significantly increased in both overweight/obesity patients and those with T1DM compared to controls, while overweight/obesity patients had higher PWV when compared to patients with T1DM.

Conclusion: Impaired arterial elasticity, expressed as increased pBP, cBP, and PWV, was found in children and adolescents with T1DM and overweight/obesity, particularly in the latter. PWV could potentially serve as a screening and diagnostic tool for impaired vascular health and, perhaps, as a prognostic tool for future cardiovascular disease in children and adolescents with T1DM or overweight/obesity.