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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Physiol.
Sec. Vascular Physiology
Volume 15 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fphys.2024.1371618

Subcutaneous Advanced Glycation End Products, Cardiovascular Risk Factors and Vascular Health during Childhood Development in a Swiss Population

Provisionally accepted

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Background: Skin-derived advanced glycation end products (sAGEs) have been associated with cardiovascular (CV) risk and mortality in adults. We hypothesize that cardiorespiratory fitness (CRF), body mass index (BMI) and vascular health are associated with development of sAGEs during childhood.In our prospective cohort study, 1171 children aged 6 to 8 years were screened for sAGEs, BMI, retinal arteriolar diameters (CRAE) and pulse wave velocity (PWV), using standardized procedures. To determine CRF a 20m shuttle run was performed. After four 4 years, all parameters were assessed in 675 children using the same protocols.: Higher initial CRF levels were significantly associated with lower sAGEs (β [95 CI] -0.02 [-0.03 to -0.002] au, p=0.022) levels at follow-up, although they showed a greater change from baseline to follow-up (β [95 CI] 0.02 [0.002 to 0.03] au, p=0.027). Moreover, individuals with higher sAGEs at baseline showed narrower CRAE (β [95% CI] -5.42 [-8.76 to -2.08] μm, p= 0.001) at follow-up and showed a greater change in CRAE (β [95% CI] -3.99 [-7.03 to -0.96] μm, p= 0.010) from baseline to follow-up. Conclusions: Exercise and higher CRF may help mitigate the formation of AGEs during childhood, thereby reducing the risk for development of CV disease associated with AGEsinduced damage. Preventive strategies may need to target CRF early in life to achieve improvement of CV risk factors and may counteract the development of CV disease later in life.

    Keywords: Advanced glycation end products, Retinal vessel diameters, pulse wave velocity, childhood cardiovascular risk, Primary Prevention

    Received: 16 Jan 2024; Accepted: 25 Jun 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Hauser, Lona, Köchli, Streese, Infanger, Faude and Hanssen. 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: Henner Hanssen, University of Basel, Basel, 4001, Switzerland

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