Background: Type 1 diabetes is associated with increased risk of cardiovascular disease and the diabetic complication cardiovascular autonomic neuropathy in itself entails increased cardiovascular risk by mechanisms not yet fully understood. Arterial calcification is an important predictor of cardiovascular events; the aim of this study was to investigate the level of generalised arterial calcification in patients with long-term, normoalbuminuric type 1 diabetes and the association with cardiovascular autonomic neuropathy, as these factors have not been investigated in type 1 diabetes.
Methods: Participants were examined for calcification of coronary and carotid arteries through non-contrast multi-detector computed tomography scans. Generalised arterial calcification was defined as the presence of calcium in both the coronary and carotid arteries.
Results: A total of 53 patients with type 1 diabetes were included. Coronary and carotid artery calcium scores were correlated ( r = 0.720, p < 0.0001). Cardiovascular autonomic neuropathy was associated with increased coronary ( p = 0.002) and carotid ( p = 0.001) artery calcium scores. Seventeen of 20 patients with cardiovascular autonomic neuropathy (85%) demonstrated generalised arterial calcification compared to 11 (33%) patients without cardiovascular autonomic neuropathy; patients with cardiovascular autonomic neuropathy had an odds ratio of 11.3 (95% confidence interval = 2.7-47.1, p < 0.001) for generalised arterial calcification.
Conclusion: Cardiovascular autonomic neuropathy is associated with increased level of generalised arterial calcification in patients with normoalbuminuric, long-term type 1 diabetes.
Keywords: Type 1 diabetes; autonomic neuropathy; cardiovascular autonomic neuropathy; carotid artery calcium; coronary artery calcium; generalised arterial calcification.