Association between skin autofluorescence and coronary calcification in the general population

To address the relationship between tissue accumulation of advanced glycation end-products, assessed by skin autofluorescence (SAF), and subclinical atherosclerosis quantified with coronary artery calcium score (CACS) in the general Dutch population.

A total of 3,839 participants of the LifeLines Cohort Study without diabetes or cardiovascular disease were included in this cross-sectional evaluation. They underwent SAF measurement and cardiac computed tomography to measure CACS. Associations between SAF and CACS was assessed using regression models. Participants at elevated risk for cardiovascular disease were selected by either CACS≥100, or SAF value in the top 15%; overlap and cardiovascular risk profile of these participants were compared.

In univariate analysis, every 1 arbitrary unit (AU) increase in SAF resulted in an odds ratio of 2.91 (95% confidence interval 2.44-3.48, p<0.001) for coronary calcification. After adjustment for cardiovascular risk factors, there was still 20% higher odds of coronary calcification with 1 AU increase in SAF, but significance was lost. In total, 1025 (27%) participants either had high SAF and/or high CACS, of these 441 (12%) had only high SAF, 450 (12%) had only high CACS and 134 (3%) participants had high SAF and high CACS.

In a population-based Dutch cohort, SAF was associated with the degree of coronary calcification. This association was largely explained by classical cardiovascular risk factors. Limited overlap was found in subgroups with high SAF or high CACS, indicating that SAF and CACS may have complementary role in identifying individuals at elevated cardiovascular risk.