title: A new gender-specific model for skin autofluorescence risk stratification.
abstract: Advanced glycation endproducts (AGEs) are believed to play a significant role in the pathophysiology of a variety of diseases including diabetes and cardiovascular diseases. Non-invasive skin autofluorescence (SAF) measurement serves as a proxy for tissue accumulation of AGEs. We assessed reference SAF and skin reflectance (SR) values in a Saudi population (n = 1,999) and evaluated the existing risk stratification scale. The mean SAF of the study cohort was 2.06 (SD = 0.57) arbitrary units (AU), which is considerably higher than the values reported for other populations. We show a previously unreported and significant difference in SAF values between men and women, with median (range) values of 1.77 AU (0.79-4.84 AU) and 2.20 AU (0.75-4.59 AU) respectively (p-value « 0.01). Age, presence of diabetes and BMI were the most influential variables in determining SAF values in men, whilst in female participants, SR was also highly correlated with SAF. Diabetes, hypertension and obesity all showed strong association with SAF, particularly when gender differences were taken into account. We propose an adjusted, gender-specific disease risk stratification scheme for Middle Eastern populations. SAF is a potentially valuable clinical screening tool for cardiovascular risk assessment but risk scores should take gender and ethnicity into consideration for accurate diagnosis.
authors.affiliation: Drug Metabolism Unit, King Fahad Medical Research Center, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah, 21589, Saudi Arabia.
authors.forename: Muhammad S
authors.initials: MS
authors.lastname: Ahmad
authors.affiliation: 1] Drug Metabolism Unit, King Fahad Medical Research Center, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah, 21589, Saudi Arabia [2] Department of Pharmacology, Faculty of Medicine, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah, 21589, Saudi Arabia.
authors.forename: Zoheir A
authors.initials: ZA
authors.lastname: Damanhouri
authors.affiliation: Section of Biomolecular Medicine, Division of Computational and Systems Medicine, Department of Surgery and Cancer, Imperial College London, SW7 2AZ, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Torben
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Kimhofer
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah, 21589, Saudi Arabia.
authors.forename: Hala H
authors.initials: HH
authors.lastname: Mosli
authors.affiliation: 1] Drug Metabolism Unit, King Fahad Medical Research Center, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah, 21589, Saudi Arabia [2] Section of Biomolecular Medicine, Division of Computational and Systems Medicine, Department of Surgery and Cancer, Imperial College London, SW7 2AZ, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Elaine
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Holmes
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D015992:Body Mass Index; D002318:Cardiovascular Diseases / Q000175:diagnosis; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D003920:Diabetes Mellitus / Q000175:diagnosis*; D005260:Female; D005453:Fluorescence; D017127:Glycation End Products, Advanced; D006801:Humans; D006973:Hypertension / Q000175:diagnosis*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009765:Obesity / Q000175:diagnosis*; D061848:Optical Imaging; D012737:Sex Factors; D012867:Skin; D012879:Skin Physiological Phenomena; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D049629:Waist-Hip Ratio; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D017127:Glycation End Products, Advanced