Invitation for PhD defense: CLUSTERING OF MICROVASCULAR COMPLICATIONS IN TYPE 1 DIABETES by Lasse Bjerg, MD

The defense and subsequent reception will take place at: Samfundsmedicinsk Auditorium, building 1262 Bartholins Allé 4, 8000 Aarhus C. 16 January 2019 at 11:30.

Title: Clustering of microvascular complications in type 1 diabetes

Description: Diabetes-related microvascular complications affect a great proportion of the population with type 1 diabetes and increase the morbidity and mortality.

The clustering of microvascular complications and the consequences of such clustering have been studied in a new PhD project at Aarhus University in collaboration with Steno Diabetes Center Copenhagen. This project studied the prevalence and incidence of diabetic kidney disease, neuropathy, and retinopathy in a population of 3,800 individuals with type 1 diabetes. Furthermore, the project investigated the effect of the current level of selected cardiometabolic risk factors on the development of further microvascular complications and investigated the mortality in relation to current microvascular complication burden.

The main findings from this PhD project are that a cross-sectional association exists between each pair of the microvascular complications. Concurrent microvascular complication burden is found to be a key determinant for subsequent development of complications and mortality. Both the effect of concurrent level and the effect of baseline level of cardiometabolic determinants are found to be associated with subsequent development of microvascular complications.

Assessment Committee:
Professor Per Løgstrup Poulsen, MD, PhD, DMSc
Professor Ulrik Pedersen-Bjergaard, MD, PhD, DMSc
Associate professor Sabita Soedamah-Muthu, MSc, PhD

Supervisors: Professor Daniel Rinse Witte, MD, PhD
Professor Marit Eika Jørgensen, MD, PhD
Morten Haaning Charles, MD, PhD