Vascular strain of the aorta and peripheral arteries in patients with type 1 diabetes mellitus in comparison with healthy controls

Abstract

Background and aims

Local variations of vascular strain may be related to the development of atherosclerotic lesions. Whether vascular strain of peripheral arteries without manifest atherosclerosis is affected by diabetes mellitus is not known. This study aimed to assess vascular strain of peripheral arteries and the abdominal aorta of young patients with type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1DM) in comparison with healthy controls.

Methods

Vascular strain was determined by sonographic speckle tracking of the common carotid arteries (CCA), the abdominal aorta (AA), the common femoral arteries (CFA), and the popliteal arteries (PA) of patients with type 1 diabetes mellitus but without atherosclerosis and in controls.

Results

Thirty-three patients with T1DM (mean age 33 years, SD 11.6) and 34 controls (mean age 24 years, SD 5.4) underwent sonographic determination of vascular strain in the CCA, AA, CFA, and PA. In total 4221 clips were processed for the analysis of vascular strain. To account for a potential impact of age on vascular strain, an age-matched model containing 18 patients with T1DM and 33 controls was used for the final analysis. In this age-matched model T1DM was independently related to vascular strain in the CFA (r = −0.48; p = 0.04), while no association was observed at other sites of the vascular tree. Intima media thickness was negatively correlated with vascular strain in the AA (r = −15.11) and the PA (r = −12.76, both p < 0.05).

Conclusion

T1DM appears to have an early impact on vascular strain of the CFA. Longitudinal observational studies are needed to further asses the course of these changes over time and to determine the impact of these early findings on patients’ cardiovascular risk.