Early Markers of Cardiovascular Disease Associated With Clinical Data and Autosomal Ancestry in Patients With Type 1 Diabetes: A Cross-sectional Study in an Admixed Brazilian Population.

Abstract BackgroundPatients with type 1 diabetes (T1D) have a higher risk of developing cardiovascular disease (CVD), which is a major cause of death in this population. The objective of this study was to investigate early markers of CVD associated with clinical data and autosomal ancestry in T1D patients from an admixed Brazilian population. MethodsA cross-sectional study was conducted with 99 T1D patients. The early markers of CVD included the ankle-brachial index (ABI), coronary artery calcium score (CACS), and carotid Doppler sonography. Demographic, clinical, and serum data were collected. A panel of autosomal informational insertion/deletion ancestry markers was used to estimate the individual proportions of European, African, and Amerindian ancestry.ResultsThe study sample had a mean age of 27.6 years and 14.4 years of duration of T1D. The prevalence of alterations in early CVD markers was: ABI (< 0,9) 19.6%, CACS (> 0 +) 4.1%, and carotid Doppler 5.0%. There was significant agreement between CACS and carotid Doppler, and these were correlated with traditional risk factors for CVD. There was a predominance of European ancestry (47.3%), followed by African (28%) and Ameridian (24.7%). There were no association between early CVD markers and autosomal ancestry proportions.ConclusionThe ABI was useful in the early identification of CVD in asymptomatic young patients with T1D and with a short duration of disease, and showed agreement with the carotid Doppler. Although CACS and carotid Doppler are non-invasive tests, carotid Doppler is more cost-effective, and both have limitations in screening for CVD in young patients with a short duration of T1D. We did not find a statistically significant relationship between autosomal ancestry proportions and early CVD markers in an admixed Brazilian population.