Skin autofluorescence as proxy of tissue AGE accumulation is dissociated from SCORE cardiovascular risk score, and remains so after 3 years

Background: Skin autofluorescence (SAF), as a proxy of AGE accumulation, is predictive of cardiovascular (CVD) complications in i.a. type 2 diabetes mellitus and renal failure, independently of most conventional CVD risk factors. The present exploratory substudy of the Groningen Overweight and Lifestyle (GOAL)-project addresses whether SAF is related to Systematic COronary Risk Evaluation (SCORE) risk estimation (% 10-year CVD-mortality risk) in overweight/obese persons in primary care, without diabetes/renal disease, and if after 3-year treatment of risk factors (change in, Delta) SAF is related to Delta SCORE.

Methods: In a sample of 65 participants from the GOAL study, with a body mass index (BMI) >25-40 kg/m(2), hypertension and/or dyslipidemia, but without diabetes/renal disease, SAF and CVD risk factors were measured at baseline, and after 3 years of lifestyle and pharmaceutical treatment.

Results: At baseline, the mean SCORE risk estimation was 3.1 +/- 2.6%, mean SAF 2.04 +/- 0.5AU. In multivariate analysis SAF was strongly related to age, but not to other risk factors/SCORE. After 3 years Delta SAF was 0.34 +/- 0.45 AU (p

Conclusions: Baseline and 3-year-Delta SAF are not related to (Delta) SCORE, or its components, except age, in the studied population. Delta SAF was negatively related to Delta weight. As 3-year SAF was higher in persons with CVD, these results support a larger study on SAF to assess its contribution to conventional risk factors/SCORE in predicting CVD in overweight persons with low-intermediate cardiovascular risk.