Fig. 2

Adjusted associations between skin AF and vascular stiffness in the EPIC-DZD study. Adjusted associations between skin AF and parameters of vascular stiffness (a PWV, b AIx, c ABI) in the EPIC-DZD study, stratified by sex, median age, abdominal adiposity and glycemic status. Changes in vascular stiffness are per 1 unit increase in skin AF. Analyses were performed on fully adjusted model 2. p values for interaction terms: cfPWV: skin AF with sex, p = 0.002, with age, p = 0.07, with waist circumference, p = 0.02, with glycemic status, p = 0.77; aoPWV: skin AF with sex, p = 0.002, with age, p = 0.07, with waist circumference, p = 0.02, with glycemic status, p = 0.78; aoAIx: skin AF with sex, p = 0.0008, with age, p = 0.001, with waist circumference, p = 0.44, with glycemic status, p = 0.99; brAIx with sex, p = 0.006, with age, p = 0.004, with waist circumference, p = 0.67, with glycemic status, p = 0.37; ABI: skin AF with sex, p = 0.10, with age, p = 0.01, with waist circumference, p = 0.40, with glycemic status, p = 0.58. Analyses were adjusted for sex and age, BMI, waist circumference, smoking status (three categories: non-smoker, former smoker, current smoker), recreational physical activity (biking and sports, h/week), systolic and diastolic blood pressure, pulse, prevalent conditions (prevalent heart failure, prior myocardial infarction or stroke), antihypertensive and lipid-lowering treatment, CRP, LDL-, HDL- and total cholesterol, triglycerides and HbA1c. EPIC-DZD Sub-study of European Prospective Investigations into Cancer and Nutrition, AF autofluorescence, PWV pulse wave velocity, AIx augmentation index, ABI ankle-brachial index, ao aortic, br brachial, cf carotid-femoral