Assessment of arterial stiffness from ambulatory blood pressure monitoring in children with diabetes mellitus type-1 (DMT1)

Pulse pressure (PP) and ambulatory arterial stiffness index (AASI) can be calculated from ambulatory blood pressure (BP) monitoring (ABPM) and have been suggested as markers of arterial stiffness and predictors of cardiovascular mortality. We retrospectively evaluated PP and AASI from ABPM records in 84 children (43 boys) with diabetes mellitus type-1 (DMT1) compared with 27 non-diabetic normotensive children. Based on office BP and ABPM, patients with DMT1 were divided into three groups: 24/84 (29%) had hypertension (DM HTN), 33/84 (39%) were normotensive (DM NT) and 27/84 (32%) had white-coat hypertension (DM WCH). DM WCH and DM HTN patients had significantly higher PP when compared with DM NT and NT patients alone (47.62 ± 7.31 and 47.43 ± 8.68 versus 41.45 ± 4.44 and 42.18 ± 5.97, respectively, P=0.0002). Similarly, AASI was significantly elevated in both DM WCH and DM HTN patients when compared with NT patients (0.35 ± 0.14 and 0.36 ± 0.15 versus 0.23 ± 0.15, respectively, P=0.007). In conclusion, children with DMT1 and hypertension, including WCH, had significantly higher PP and AASI levels when compared with normotensive patients. This suggests that these children may be at an increased risk for developing cardiovascular complications later on in life.