Author(s)

Hirokazu Uemura, Sakurako Katsuura-Kamano, Miwa Yamaguchi, Mariko Nakamoto, Mineyoshi Hiyoshi, Fusakazu Sawachika, Kokichi Arisawa

Department of Preventive Medicine, Institute of Health Biosciences, The University of Tokushima Graduate School, Tokushima, Japan.
Department of Public Health and Applied Nutrition, Institute of Health Biosciences, The University of Tokushima Graduate School, Tokushima, Japan.

Prevalent diabetes is at high risk for cardiovascular diseases and has a high familial inheritance. However, little is known whether a non-diabetic subject with a family history of diabetes is at high risk for vascular damage or not. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the association between a family history of diabetes and arterial stiffness in adult non-diabetic Japanese population. We analyzed eligible 787 non-diabetic subjects (502 men and 285 women) aged 35-69 years who enrolled in the baseline survey of a cohort study in Tokushima Prefecture, Japan and who underwent a brachial-ankle pulse wave velocity (ba-PWV) measurement. Information on individual life-style characteristics including medical history and treatment for diseases and a first-degree family history of diabetes was obtained through a structured self-administered questionnaire. Analysis of covariance and logistic regression analyses were used to evaluate the association between a family history of diabetes and ba-PWV. We found no differences in age-and-systolic blood pressure-adjusted and multivariate-adjusted means of ba-PWVs between subjects of both sexes with and without a family history of diabetes. Logistic regression analyses including both sexes also revealed that subjects with a family history of diabetes showed no differences in age-and-systolic blood pressure-adjusted and multivariate-adjusted odds ratios for high ba-PWV compared to those without that trait. Our results suggest that a family history of diabetes itself is not associated with arterial stiffness in adult non-diabetic Japanese population.

 

Arterial Stiffness; Brachial-Ankle Pulse Wave Velocity; Family History of Diabetes; Cross-Sectional Study

Uemura, H. , Katsuura-Kamano, S. , Yamaguchi, M. , Nakamoto, M. , Hiyoshi, M. , Sawachika, F. and Arisawa, K. (2013) A family history of diabetes is not associated with arterial stiffness in non-diabetic Japanese population. Open Journal of Epidemiology, 3, 177-183. doi: 10.4236/ojepi.2013.34026.