Microvascular complications are prevalent in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM), resulting in increased risk of cardiovascular mortality. However, it is unclear whether above-knee artery calcification relates to microvascular complications. This study was aimed to investigate the role of calcification in superficial femoral arteries (SFA), the major above-knee artery, compared with anterior tibial arteries (ATA) and posterior tibial arteries (PTA), in T2DM-related microvascular complications and explore its risk factors. A single-center and observational study involving 359 T2DM patients was conducted. Clinical and laboratory data were collected. SFA calcification was evaluated by ultrasonography. Compared with ATA and PTA calcification, operating characteristics curve analysis showed that SFA calcification was the strongest predictor (63.1% sensitivity and 69.2% specificity) for T2DM-related microvascular complications (diabetic neuropathy, diabetic nephropathy and diabetic retinopathy). With the severity of SFA calcification increased, age, duration of T2DM, and SBP were significantly elevated, but triglyceride and glucose index and estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) were significantly reduced (all P < 0.05). Multivariate logistic analysis showed that eGFR (OR 0.953; 95% CI 0.931-0.976; P < 0.001) was an independent risk factor of SFA calcification, especially in young patients with HbA1c > 7.0. We identified SFA calcification as a good predictor of microvascular complications in T2DM patients. Reduced eGFR was significantly associated with increased SFA calcification prevalence, especially in young T2DM patients with bad controlled hyperglycemia.

中文翻译：

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股浅动脉钙化是T2DM患者微血管并发症的新危险因素。

微血管并发症在2型糖尿病（T2DM）患者中普遍存在，导致心血管死亡的风险增加。然而，尚不清楚膝上动脉钙化是否与微血管并发症有关。这项研究旨在探讨钙化在与胫前动脉（ATA）和胫后动脉（PTA）相比的浅股大腿浅动脉（SFA），T2DM相关的微血管并发症中的作用，并探讨其风险因素。进行了一项涉及359名T2DM患者的单中心观察性研究。收集临床和实验室数据。通过超声检查评估SFA钙化。与ATA和PTA钙化相比，操作特征曲线分析表明，SFA钙化是T2DM相关微血管并发症（糖尿病性神经病，糖尿病性肾病和糖尿病性视网膜病）的最强预测因子（敏感性为63.1％，特异性为69.2％）。随着SFA钙化严重程度的增加，年龄，T2DM持续时间和SBP显着升高，但甘油三酸酯和葡萄糖指数以及估计的肾小球滤过率（eGFR）显着降低（所有P <0.05）。多元逻辑分析表明，eGFR（OR 0.953; 95％CI 0.931-0.976; P <0.001）是SFA钙化的独立危险因素，尤其是在HbA1c> 7.0的年轻患者中。我们将SFA钙化确定为T2DM患者微血管并发症的良好预测指标。