Aims/introduction: Many studies have reported that high levels of glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c) are strongly associated with an increased risk of cardiovascular disease. Many researchers have not studied the association of HbA1c with various subclinical atherosclerosis phenotypes. We evaluated the impact of HbA1c on arterial stiffness and atherosclerosis in healthy Korean healthy men.
Materials and methods: The study population included healthy adult men who participated in health check-ups. All participants fasted for at least 8 h before taking the blood sample for fasting blood glucose, HbA1c, total cholesterol, high-density lipoprotein cholesterol, low-density lipoprotein cholesterol and triglyceride. Arterial stiffness was measured using brachial-ankle pulse wave velocity. Hierarchical regression analysis allowed us to determine the relationship between brachial-ankle pulse wave velocity (baPWV) and potential risk factors for cardiovascular disease.
Results: Age and HbA1c were significantly related to baPWV, in model 1. In model 2, blood pressure was added to model 1. Systolic blood pressure was a more significant variable, which was more affected on baPWV than diastolic blood pressure. In the case of model 3, we included all variables regarding arterial stiffness. According to model 3, the most explainable variable was age, and then systolic blood pressure, body mass index and triglyceride, respectively.
Conclusions: We analyzed the associations between HbA1c, which is one of the risk factors, and arterial stiffness independently. An arterial stiffness measurement using baPWV can show the level of severity of the arteriosclerosis. When the level of stiffness has been increased, we could assume that the risk of arteriosclerosis would be increased. It can also be related to the increase of the risk of cardiovascular disease.
Keywords: Artificial stiffness; Cardiovascular diseases; Glycated hemoglobin.