Correlations between skin autofluorescence and conventional glycemic markers in patients with diabetes

Abstract

Skin autofluorescence has a well-known significance for screening diabetes and early diagnosis of vascular complications. It predicts cardiovascular events better than hemoglobin A1c, hence skin autofluorescence is a marker of cumulative tissue glycemic load whereas hemoglobin A1c reflects changes occurring in the previous 6-8 weeks. The aim of the authors was analyze the relationship between skin autofluorescence and conventional glycemic markers in patients with diabetes. Skin autofluorescence measurements were performed in 2010 in 18 patients (10 men and 8 women with normal glomerular filtration rate; age, 61.4±13.8 years) with long term follow-up (2624 months, 476 laboratory results). Relationships between skin autofluorescence values and fasting blood glucose, hemoglobin A1c levels and metabolic parameters obtained before and after skin autofluorescence measurements were analysed using Spearman rank test. The average skin autofluorescence value was 2.88±0.65 arbitrary units. There were no significant correlations between skin autofluorescence and hemoglobin A1c levels obtained before (7.84±1.08%, p = 0.07) and after the skin autofluorescence measurements (7.45±1.18%, p = 0.71). Skin autofluorescence values also failed to show relationship with fasting blood glucose obtained before (p = 0.09) and after (p = 0.29) the skin autofluorescence measurements. In patients with diabetes skin autofluorescence may provide novel information about glycemic burden. Skin autofluorescence values (which may presumably provide a more accurate estimation of the cardiovascular risk) do not correlate with hemoglobin A1c and fasting blood glucose.