Association Of Skin Antofluorescence And Foot Ulcers In Patients With Diabetes:a Cross-sectional Study

AimDiabetes is the most common metabolic disease in the world. Diabetic foot ulcer is one of serious diabetes complications. Many reports have shown that advanced glycation endproducts (AGE) play key role in the development of vascular/pripheral complications and chronic wound in diabetic patients. There are many methods to detect AGE, in which the skin Auto fluorescence (AF) was most widely used in studies and clinics. It had been preliminary confirmed that skin AF was associated with the content of AGE in skin. However, literatures about the screening and prognostic value of skin AF on foot complications in diabetic patient were insufficient.Material and methodDiabetic subjects in our hospital between Jan2013and Oct2013.were enrolled, and were divided into two groups according to whether an ulcer was present or not. Demographic characteristics and blood data were recorded. Skin AF was measured with an AGE reader. And Logistic regression were used to analyze the association between AF and clinical data or the risk of diabetic foot ulcer.ResultsTotally296patients were included in this study, of whom154were male,142female. The mean age, disease duration and values of skin AF for subjects without foot ulcers were67.68±9.47years,9.15±7.23years and3.48±0.46, respectively, and for those with foot ulcers the value were67.68±9.47years,9.15±7.23years and2.66±0.52respectively. The skin AF value were significantly associated with the age and disease duration (P<0.05). After adjusting for these factors, logistic regression showed that skin AF was independently associated with foot ulcerations.ConclusionSkin AF had significant, direct association with diabetic foot ulcerations. It might provide useful information for risk screening of diabetic patients. All AGE levels were strongly correlated with each other; AF level were strongly affected by key tissue AGE; AGE contents depositions were accompanied with key tissue inflammation. Skin AF is independently associated with diabetic foot ulcerations. It might be a useful screening method for foot ulceration risk of diabetic patients.