Welcome to InCirculation.net
InCirculation.net is a professional cardiovascular resource intended for a global audience of specialists, generalists, researchers, and other healthcare professionals
Cardiovascular news provides daily news updates to help you stay informed.
Type 1 diabetics with high VEGF have increased risk for CVD
18 February 2010
MedWire News: Children and adolescents with Type 1 diabetes and high levels of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) have increased risk for cardiovascular disease (CVD), say researchers.
As well as the large increase in the incidence of Type 2 diabetes, the incidence of Type 1 diabetes has risen dramatically in recent years in developed countries.
“Along with increased incidence of diabetes, the risk of development of diabetic microvascular complications, as well as the percentage of patients with arterial hypertension, has also increased,” say researchers.
VEGF has been suggested to be an indicator of vascular tissue damage. Katarzyna Zorena (Medical University of Gdansk, Poland) and colleagues therefore recruited 105 children and adolescents with Type 1 diabetes and 30 healthy controls, aged 16.5 years on average, to assess the value of VEGF for estimating cardiovascular risk.
Of the patients with Type 1 diabetes, 16 had microalbuminuria (MA) or diabetic retinopathy (DR) and hypertension and 74 did not. VEGF levels were found to be significantly higher in the MA/DR group with hypertension than in the non-MA/DR group and controls at 340.23 pg/ml versus 183.6 and 145.32 pg/ml, respectively. The difference between controls and Type 1 diabetics with no CVD complications was not significant.
Of note, 15 individuals in the Type 1 diabetes group had MA/DR but no hypertension and had VEGF levels intermediate between the MA/DR group with hypertension and controls, at 247.3 pg/ml.
Multiple regression analysis showed that systolic pressure, glycated hemoglobin, and duration of disease all independently affect the concentration of VEGF.
The authors suggest that “it is important to monitor VEGF levels in a larger group of patients, which would allow for the identification of a subgroup of patients with the highest risk of… hypertension and subsequently late diabetic complications.”
They conclude: “VEGF may become a marker useful in identification of the [Type 1 diabetic] patients who in the future might develop hypertension before the occurrence of the first clinical signs of hypertension.”
Your opinion matters - help to shape the future of InCirculation.net by completing our short survey. 
