ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Endocrinol.
Sec. Bone Research
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fendo.2025.1695436
This article is part of the Research TopicRecent Advances in the Management of Osteoporosis: Prevention, Diagnosis and TreatmentView all 8 articles
Association of skin advanced glycation end products, IMT complex and bone mineral density in patients with type 1 diabetes
Provisionally accepted
Agnieszka Zawada*
Dariusz Naskret
Agata Grzelka-Woźniak
Alicja Ewa Ratajczak
Anna Rychter
Kinga Skoracka
Michal MichalakAleksandra Szymczak-TomczakDorota Zozulinska-ZiolkiewiczAgnieszka Dobrowolska
Iwona Krela-Kaźmierczak- Poznan University of Medical Sciences, Poznań, Poland
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Introduction: The accumulation of protein glycation end products, in addition to the direct impact of hyperglycemia, represents one of the most common pathomechanisms involved in the development of osteoporosis in diabetic patients. This study aimed to evaluate the accumulation of advanced glycation end products (AGEs) in the skin and the thickness of the intima/media complex (IMT) in patients with type 1 diabetes in relation to bone mineral density. Materials and Methods: The study comprised a group of 132 individuals, including diabetes mellitus type 1 (DM1) patients. The thickness of the IMT complex was evaluated. Bone mineral density (BMD), T-score, and Z-score were assessed using dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry. Skin AGE assessment was performed by AGE-Reader. Results: The concentration of AGEs in the skin was significantly higher in patients with DM1 and osteopenia in the femoral neck as compared to individuals with diabetes and normal bone mass, as well as with the control group. The thickness of the IMT complex was significantly greater in subjects with diabetes compared to healthy participants, regardless of osteopenia in the femoral neck and L1-L3. Conclusion: Patients with DM1 demonstrated lower BMD in L1-L4 and in the femoral neck compared to those in the non-diabetic group. Patients with type 1 diabetes mellitus and osteopenia did not present a statistically significant increase in the thickness of the IMT complex than those with DM1 without osteopenia. Individuals with coexisting DM1 and osteopenia in femoral neck, but not in L1-L4, presented significantly higher values of skin advanced glycation end products than participants with diabetes mellitus without bone mineral disorders.
Keywords: Advanced glycation end products, bone mineral density, Intima media thickness, osteopenia, Type 1 diabetes mellitus
Received: 29 Aug 2025; Accepted: 16 Oct 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Zawada, Naskret, Grzelka-Woźniak, Ratajczak, Rychter, Skoracka, Michalak, Szymczak-Tomczak, Zozulinska-Ziolkiewicz, Dobrowolska and Krela-Kaźmierczak. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Agnieszka Zawada, a.zawada@ump.edu.pl
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