Table 1 Clinical characteristics of the study population

Age (years)

41.6 (10.4)

36.1 (8.1)

<0.001

Sex (male/female, %)

54/46

46/54

0.096

BMI (kg/m²)

24.8 (3.5)

23.9 (2.6)

<0.001

HbA1c (%)

9.0 (1.6)

7.7 (1.3)

<0.001

HbA1c (mmol/mol)

75 (17.4)

61 (14.1)

<0.001

Duration of diabetes (years)

25.2 (8.9)

15.5 (7.0)

<0.001

LDL cholesterol (mmol/l)

3.30 (1.06)

2.88 (0.93)

<0.001

HDL cholesterol (mmol/l)

1.59 (0.42)

1.68 (0.45)

0.032

Triglycerides (mmol/l)

1.13 [0.84-1.58]

0.85 [0.67-1.09]

<0.001

Smoking (no/former/current) (%)

36/31/33

46/26/28

0.047

Systolic blood pressure (mmHg)

127 (21)

115 (13)

<0.001

Diastolic blood pressure (mmHg)

75 (12)

73 (10)

0.085

Serum creatinine (μmol/l)

76.0 [68.0-90.0]

71.0 [64.0-79.0]

<0.001

eGFR (ml/min/1.73 m²)

95.7 [79.0-107.9]

107.9 [97.2-115.6]

<0.001

Cardiovascular disease (%)

38.6

-

-

Albuminuria (normo-/micro-/macro-)(%)

37.9/25.2/36.9

-

-

Retinopathy (no/background/proliferative) (%)

11.4/40.9/47.7

-

-

Antihypertensive medication (%)

45.4

5.9

<0.001

ACE-inhibitor (%)

37.6

4.3

<0.001

MMP-1 (ng/ml)

12.8 [7.0-19.9]

10.8 [5.9-16.5]

0.006

MMP-2 (ng/ml)

110 [100–120]

103 [96–110]

<0.001

MMP-3 (ng/ml)

17.8 [11.2-28.3]

12.9 [8.3-19.6]

<0.001

MMP-9 (ng/ml)

122 [81–195]

110 [66–172]

0.023

MMP-10 (pg/ml)

1285 [942–1931]

1077 [790–1635]

<0.001

TIMP-1 (ng/ml)

313 (100)

256 (74)

<0.001

C-reactive protein (mg/l)

1.28 [0.46-2.68]

0.71 [0.35-1.80]

<0.001

Interleukin-6 (pg/ml)

2.12 [1.35-3.86]

1.57 [1.06-2.50]

<0.001

Tumor necrosis factor-α (pg/ml)

3.16 [2.33-4.42]

2.22 [1.68-2.85]

<0.001

Soluble e-selectin (ng/ml)

35.7 (16.6)

31.1 (11.1)

<0.001

Soluble vascular cell adhesion molecule-1 (ng/ml)

435 (144)

378 (104)

<0.001