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Objective: The aim of this research is to study skin autofluorescence and the associations between skin glycated proteins and clinical characteristics of healthy and unhealthy subjects for noninvasive screening of diabetes and cardiovascular disease (CVD) risks. Background data: Accumulated advanced glycation endproducts (AGEs) promote increased oxidative stress and inflammation, as well as cross-linking of proteins leading to tissue damage and several diseases, including diabetes. Materials and methods: One hundred and four subjects with or without diabetes and stroke aged 20-80 years and with Fitzpatrick skin type (I to IV) participated in this study. The fluorescence spectrometer was used to illuminate a skin surface of 1 cm 2 . The skin of forearm was positioned on the spectrometer to assess skin AGEs. Anthropometric data and body composition also were evaluated. Results: Elevated skin autofluorescence was found in subjects >50 years old, as well as in patients with insulin resistance (IR), diabetes, and stroke. There was a positive correlation between the skin autofluorescence and age ( r  = 0.7, p  = 0.0001), body mass index (BMI) ( r  = 0.5, p  = 0.001), body fat ( r  = 0.5, p  = 0.0001), waist circumference ( r  = 0.45, p  = 0.001), and systolic blood pressure (BP) ( r  = 0.45, p  = 0.0001). Conclusions: Elevated skin autofluorescence can provide a noninvasive screening of diabetes and CVD risks.

Diabetes is a complex metabolic disease and has chronic complications. It has been considered a serious public health problem. The aim of the current study was to evaluate skin glycated proteins through fluorescence and Raman techniques. One hundred subjects were invited to participate in the study. Six volunteers did not attend due to exclusion criteria or a change of mind about participating. Therefore, 94 volunteers were grouped according to age range (20-80 years), health condition (nondiabetic, with insulin resistance [IR] and/or diabetic) and Fitzpatrick skin type (I-VI). The fluorescence spectrometer and the portable Raman spectroscopy system were used to measure glycated proteins from the skin. There was elevated skin autofluorescence in healthy middle-aged and elderly subjects, as well as in patients with IR and/or diabetes. Regarding Raman spectroscopy, changes in the skin hydration state, degradation of type I collagen and greater glycation were related for diabetes and chronological aging. Weak and positive correlation between the skin autofluorescence and the Raman peaks ratio (855/876) related to the glycated proteins was also found. Raman spectroscopy shows several bands for spectral analyses, complementing the fluorescence data. Therefore, this study contributes to understanding of the optical of human skin for noninvasive diabetes screening., (© 2018 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.)