Table 1.

Main studies evaluating associations between aortic stiffness and diabetic microvascular complications.

Reference	Number of Patients	Study Design	Microvascular Complication Evaluated	Arterial Stiffness Index	Main Findings
[19]	600	Cross-sectional	Retinopathy	AIx	Augmentation index was independently associated with the presence of retinopathy.
[26]	494	Cross-sectional	Retinopathy	hf-PWV	Aortic stiffness was independently associated with retinopathy.
[23]	294	Cross-sectional	Peripheral neuropathy	ba-PWV	Increased arterial stiffness was independently associated with peripheral neuropathy.
[21]	731	Cross-sectional	Peripheral neuropathy	CAVI	Increased arterial stiffness was independently associated with peripheral neuropathy.
[22]	692	Cross-sectional	Peripheral neuropathy	ba-PWV	Increased arterial stiffness was independently associated with peripheral neuropathy.
[24]	45	Cross-sectional	Cardiovascular autonomic neuropathy	cf-PWV	Aortic stiffness correlated with autonomic neuropathy.
[29]	306	Cross-sectional	Microalbuminuria	ba-PWV	Arterial stiffness was independently associated with microalbuminuria.
[18]	167	Cross-sectional	Microalbuminuria	cf-PWV	Aortic stiffness was independently associated with increased albuminuria.
[27]	134	Cross-sectional	Nephropathy	cf-PWV	Aortic stiffness was associated with albuminuria without adjustment for blood pressure, and with lower eGFR.
[28]	614	Cross-sectional	High–normal albuminuria	cf-PWV	Aortic stiffness was independently associated with higher albuminuria even in the normal range.
[31]	122	Cross-sectional	End-stage renal disease	cf-PWV	Aortic stiffness was independently associated with reduced renal function.
[32]	706	Cross-sectional	Microalbuminuria	cf-PWV	Increased aortic stiffness was independently associated with microalbuminuria, but not with reduced eGFR.
			Reduced renal function
[20]	482	Cross-sectional	Retinopathy	cf-PWV	Increased aortic stiffness was independently associated with nephropathy, retinopathy and peripheral neuropathy.
			Nephropathy
			Peripheral neuropathy
			Cardiovascular autonomic neuropathy
[30]	320	Cross-sectional	Albuminuria	CAVI	Increased arterial stiffness was independently associated with albuminuria and peripheral neuropathy, but not with retinopathy.
			Retinopathy
			Peripheral neuropathy
[25] *	635	Cross-sectional	Albuminuria	cf-PWV	Increased aortic stiffness was independently associated with increased albuminuria, retinopathy and cardiac dysautonomia.
			Retinopathy
			Cardiovascular autonomic neuropathy
[33]	461	Prospective	Microalbuminuria	cf-PWV	Aortic stiffness independently predicted incident microalbuminuria and was associated with the rate of decline in eGFR.
			Reduced renal function
[34]	477	Prospective	Peripheral neuropathy	cf-PWV	Increased aortic stiffness independently predicted the future development and progression of peripheral neuropathy.

* The only study with type 1 diabetic patients. All others were on type 2 diabetes. Abbreviations: AIx, augmentation index; hf-PWV, heart–femoral pulse wave velocity; ba-PWV, brachial–ankle pulse wave velocity; CAVI, cardio-ankle vascular index; cf-PWV, carotid–femoral pulse wave velocity; eGFR, estimated glomerular filtration rate.