Clinical significance and influencing factors of carotid pulse wave velocity in patients with diabetic microangiopathy

PURPOSE: To evaluate the utility of carotid ultrafast pulse wave velocity (PWV) and explore its influencing factors in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) microangiopathy. METHODS: Seventy-seven patients with T2DM were divided into two groups according to the absence (Group A, n = 45) or presence (Group B, n = 32) of microangiopathy. The control group comprised 1544 healthy volunteers. Two-dimensional ultrasonography was used to measure intima-media thickness (IMT) of the carotid arteries, and ultrafast ultrasound imaging was used to measure PWV of the carotid arteries at the beginning of systole (PWV-BS) and the end of systole (PWV-ES). RESULTS: The IMT, PWV-BS, and PWV-ES were higher in the T2DM group than in the control group, and the values in T2DM Group B were higher than those in Group A. IMT was positively correlated with PWV-BS and PWV-ES. Age and uric acid were influencing factors of PWV-ES, while age, uric acid, body mass index, glycated hemoglobin, and urine albumin/creatinine ratio were influencing factors of PWV-BS. PWV-ES was a more sensitive predictor than PWV-BS, and a PWV-ES critical value predicted carotid elasticity in patients with T2DM microangiopathy. CONCLUSION: Ultrafast PWV can reflect early atherosclerosis and provide a noninvasive assessment of microangiopathy in patients with T2DM.