A comprehensive meta-analysis published in the Acta Diabetologica has reported a distinct group of biomarkers that may act as early warning signs for vascular dysregulation in individuals with type 1 diabetes (T1D), particularly among children, adolescents, and young adults. Vascular abnormalities and cardiovascular disease (CVD) remain serious complications of T1D, and early detection of contributing risk factors is essential to improving long-term health outcomes.
Researchers analyzed data from 80 case-control studies published between 2013 and 2023, involving a total of 7,492 T1D patients and 5,293 age- and sex-matched healthy controls (HCs). The HCs were free of any diagnosed disease and not on any medication. Eligible T1D patients were all younger than 40 years. A systematic search of PubMed, Web of Science, and Google Scholar databases was conducted, and the included studies were evaluated for bias using the ROBINS-I tool, relevant to non-randomized clinical research. The statistical analysis followed a random effects model using RevMan 5.4 and GraphPad Prism.
The study identified 28 vascular risk factors that were categorized into six primary outcome models. All outcome models indicated that T1D patients exhibited significantly greater vascular dysregulation than their healthy counterparts, underlining their elevated risk of CVD. Among these risk indicators, glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c%) emerged as the most potent predictor of vascular compromise. Other important markers included fasting blood glucose (FBG), low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-c), atherogenic index (AI%), soluble intercellular adhesion molecule-1 (sICAM-1), and flow-mediated dilation (FMD%).