Flow-mediated dilatation of the brachial artery is a poorly reproducible indicator of microvascular function in Type I diabetes mellitus

P. Hamilton, C. J. Lockhart, A. J. McCann, C. E. Agnew, M. T. Harbinson, V. McClenaghan, C. Bleakley, R. C. McGivern, G. McVeigh

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

7 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Aim: Two Type I diabetes and control group comparator studies were conducted to assess the reproducibility of FMD and to analyse blood flow data normally discarded during FMD measurement.

Design: The studies were sequential and differed only with regard to operator and ultrasound machine. Seventy-two subjects with diabetes and 71 controls were studied in total.

Methods: Subjects had FMD measured conventionally. Blood velocity waveforms were averaged over 10 pulses post forearm ischaemia and their component frequencies analysed using the wavelet transform, a mathematical tool for waveform analysis. The component frequencies were grouped into 11 bands to facilitate analysis.

Results: Subjects were well-matched between studies. In Study 1, FMD was significantly impaired in subjects with Type I diabetes vs. controls (median 4.35%, interquartile range 3.10-4.80 vs. 6.50, 4.79-9.42, P < 0.001). No differences were detected between groups in Study 2, however. However, analysis of blood velocity waveforms yielded significant differences between groups in two frequency bands in each study.

Conclusions: This report highlights concerns over the reproducibility of FMD measures. Further work is required to fully elucidate the role of analysing velocity waveforms after forearm ischaemia.

Original languageEnglish
Article numberhcr023
Pages (from-to)589-597
Number of pages9
JournalQJM : monthly journal of the Association of Physicians
Volume104
Issue number7
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Jul 2011

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • General Medicine

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Flow-mediated dilatation of the brachial artery is a poorly reproducible indicator of microvascular function in Type I diabetes mellitus'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this