Association between arterial stiffness/remodeling and new-onset type 2 diabetes mellitus in general population.

OBJECTIVE: We studied if large artery stiffness is involved in type 2 diabetes pathogenesis. We also investigated the effect of genetic risk for type 2 diabetes in these associations and the causality. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS: In the prospective population-based Rotterdam Study (n = 3,055; mean age, 67.2 years), markers of aortic and carotid stiffnesses and measures of arterial remodeling were assessed. Cox proportional hazard regression analysis estimated the associations between arterial stiffness measures with incident type 2 diabetes. We used 403 single nucleotide polymorphisms to calculate the genetic risk score (GRS) for type 2 diabetes. We adopted Mendelian randomization (MR) analysis to evaluate the causal associations. RESULTS: Over a median follow-up of 14.0 years, higher carotid-femoral pulse wave velocity (hazard ratio,1.18; 95 %CI: 1.04-1.35), carotid distensibility coefficient (1.17; 1.04-1.32), and carotid intima-media thickness (1.15; 1.01-1.32) were independently associated with incident diabetes. The associations were stronger among individuals with a higher GRS for type 2 diabetes. MR analysis did not support the causality of the observed associations. CONCLUSIONS: Elevated arterial stiffness is independently associated with incident type 2 diabetes. For most arterial stiffness markers, the associations with incident type 2 diabetes were more robust in individuals with a higher GRS for diabetes.

Prevalence of microvascular angina among patients with stable symptoms in the absence of obstructive coronary artery disease: a systematic review.

Our purpose was to perform a systematic review to assess the prevalence of microvascular angina (MVA) among patients with stable symptoms in the absence of obstructive coronary artery disease (CAD). We performed a systematic review of the literature to group the prevalence of MVA, based on diagnostic pathways and modalities. We defined MVA using three definitions: (i) suspected MVA using non-invasive ischaemia tests; proportion of patients with non-obstructive CAD among patients with symptoms and a positive non-invasive ischaemia test result, (ii) suspected MVA using specific modalities for MVA; proportion of patients with evidence of impaired microvascular function among patients with symptoms and non-obstructive CAD, and (iii) definitive MVA; proportion of patients with positive ischaemia test results among patients with an objectified impaired microvascular dysfunction. We further examined the ratio of women-to-men for the different groups. Of the 4547 abstracts, 20 studies reported data on MVA prevalence. The median prevalence was 43% for suspected MVA using non-invasive ischaemia test, 28% for suspected MVA using specific modalities for MVA, and 30% for definitive MVA. Overall, more women were included in the studies reporting sex-specific data. The women-to-men ratio for included participants was 1.29. However, the average women-to-men ratio for the MVA cases was 2.50. In patients with stable symptoms of ischaemia in the absence of CAD, the prevalences of suspected and definitive MVA are substantial. The results of this study should warrant cardiologists to support, promote and facilitate the comprehensive evaluation of the coronary microcirculation for all patients with symptoms and non-obstructive CAD.