Arterial stiffness in children and adolescents with and without continuous insulin infusion

Background Arterial stiffness is a consequence of aging, but there are several diseases that contribute to this process. The evaluation of pulse wave velocity (PWV) allows a dynamic evaluation of vascular distensibility and the detection of atherosclerosis at an early stage. It was intended to evaluate the PWV in children and adolescents with type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1DM) and to compare their outcome according to the type of treatment used. Methods Forty-eight patients were randomly selected. Inclusion criteria: T1DM, under intensive insulin therapy (multiple daily insulin administrations [MDI] or continuous insulin infusion system [CIIS]). Exclusion criteria: existence of another chronic pathology or microvascular complications. Echocardiography was performed and three measurements of PWV were done, with their mean calculated. Results Most of the children and adolescents presented a PWV ≥ the 75th centile. There was a statistically significant difference for hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c) (7.8 in CIIS vs. 9 in MDI, p < 0.05). There were not statistically significant differences in the PWV between the two groups. This can be attributed to the fact that children with CIIS are those who previously presented greater glycemic instability. There was a significant correlation between PWV and disease duration (Pearson's correlation coefficient [r] = 0.314, p = 0.036). Conclusions This study showed that in children and adolescents with T1DM, there is an important prevalence of arterial stiffness, translated by an increase in PWV. This increase in PWV appears to exist even in very young children with little disease evolution time.