A technique called skin autofluorescence may be a new non-invasive way to detect vascular damage in patients with type 2 diabetes. Skin autofluorescence can measure the accumulation of advanced glycation end products (AGEs) in tissues, which accumulate as a result of high levels of blood sugar. AGE has a deleterious effect on the walls of small and large blood vessels, leading to diabetes-related micro- and macrovascular disease. Therefore, skin autofluorescence can be a tool that is able to give a rapid impression of the risk for diabetes complications. Researchers from the University Medical Center Groningen, the Netherlands, investigated the association between skin autofluorescence and micro- and macrovascular complications in 973 patients with type 2 diabetes. The autofluorescence test was conducted by illuminating and measuring the levels of light emitted from the skin of the patients' forearm using an autofluoresence reader. The average skin autofluorescence was 33 percent higher among type 2 diabetics than among controls. It was found that patients with both micro- and macrovascular complications had higher average skin autofluorescence than did patients without complications and patients with only microvascular complications. Patients with macrovascular complications also had higher average skin autofluorescence than did patients without complications. Increased skin autofluorescence was also associated with increased age, female sex, current tobacco use, increased diabetes duration, evidence of kidney disease and decreased HDL cholesterol (the good cholesterol). In a 4-year follow-up study, the progression of micro- and macrovascular complications, as well as mortality, is now (being) evaluated in the current study group to see if skin autofluorescence can predict the development or progression of diabetes complications.
Diabetes Care,
December 2006