Association Between the ACE Insertion/Deletion Polymorphism and Risk of Lower-Limb Amputation in Patients With Long-Standing Type 1 Diabetes

Editorial: Kinin 2022 Meeting, Annecy, France

The Kinin 2022 meeting took place at the Imperial Palace, Annecy, France, from 5-8 June 2022 [...].

Lower-limb peripheral arterial disease and amputations in people with diabetes: Risk factors, prognostic value and management

Lower-limb peripheral arterial disease (PAD), is a common manifestation of systemic atherosclerosis, resulting from a partial or complete obstruction of at least one lower-limb arteries. PAD is a major endemic disease with an excess risk of major cardiovascular events and death. It also leads to disability, high rates of lower-limb adverse events and non-traumatic amputation. In patients with diabetes, PAD is particularly frequent and has a worse prognosis than in patients without diabetes. The risk factors of PAD are comparable to those for cardiovascular disease. The ankle-brachial index is usually recommended to screen PAD despite its limited performance in patients with diabetes, affected by the presence of peripheral neuropathy, medial arterial calcification, incompressible arteries and infection. Toe brachial index and toe pressure emerge as alternative screening tools. The management of PAD requires strict control of cardiovascular risk factors including diabetes, hypertension and dyslipidaemia, the use of antiplatelet agents and lifestyle management, to reduce cardiovascular adverse events, but few randomized controlled trials have evaluated the benefits of these treatments in PAD. Several advances have been achieved in endovascular and surgical revascularization procedures, with obvious improvement in PAD prognosis. Further studies are required to increase our understanding of the pathophysiology of PAD and to evaluate the interest of different therapeutic strategies in the occurrence and progression of PAD in patients with diabetes. Here, we present a narrative and contemporary review to synthesize the key epidemiology findings, screening and diagnosis methods, and major therapeutic advances regarding PAD in patients with diabetes.

Differential prognostic burden of cardiovascular disease and lower-limb amputation on the risk of all-cause death in people with long-standing type 1 diabetes

Background

Cardiovascular disease (CVD) and nontraumatic lower-limb amputation (LLA) each results in reduced life expectancy in patients with type 1 diabetes, but the differential burden between these conditions is unknown. We compared the effects of CVD and LLA on the risk of mortality in people with type 1 diabetes.

Methods

We used pooled data from the SURGENE, GENEDIAB, and GENESIS prospective cohorts. Data were divided into: 1/absence of CVD (myocardial infarction and/or stroke) nor LLA, 2/history of CVD alone without LLA, 3/LLA alone without CVD or 4/both conditions at baseline. Participants with baseline history of peripheral artery disease were excluded from groups 1 and 2. The study endpoint was any death occurring during follow-up, regardless of the causes.

Results

Among 1169 participants (male 55%, age 40 ± 13 years, diabetes duration 23 ± 11 years), CVD, LLA or both were present at baseline in 49 (4.2%), 62 (5.3%) and 20 (1.7%) subjects, respectively. All-cause death occurred in 304 (26%) participants during 17-year follow-up, corresponding to 18,426 person-years and an incidence rate of 16 (95%CI, 15–18) per 1000 person-years. The risk of death increased in individuals with baseline history of CVD (adjusted HR 2.00 [95% CI 1.34–3.01], p = 0.0008) or LLA (2.26 [1.56–3.28], p < 0.0001), versus no condition, with an additive effect in people with both conditions (5.32 [3.14–9.00], p < 0.0001). No incremental risk of death was observed in people with CVD versus LLA (0.87 [0.54–1.41]). Compared with no condition, CVD and LLA were similarly associated with reduced life expectancy during follow-up: 2.79 (95% CI 1.26–4.32) and 3.38 (1.87–4.88) years, respectively. Combined conditions expose to 7.04 (4.76–9.31) less years of life expectancy (all p < 0.0001).

Conclusions

CVD and LLA conferred a similar burden regarding mortality in type 1 diabetes population. Our findings encourage a careful consideration of people with type 1 diabetes and LLA as usually recommended for those with CVD, in terms of management of risk factors, treatments and prevention.

Supplementary Information

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12933-022-01487-8.