To investigate the associations of plasma levels of advanced glycation end products (AGEs) with incident cardiovascular disease (CVD) and all-cause mortality in type 1 diabetes and the extent to which any such associations could be explained by endothelial and renal dysfunction, low-grade inflammation, and arterial stiffness.

We prospectively followed 169 individuals with diabetic nephropathy and 170 individuals with persistent normoalbuminuria who were free of CVD at study entry and in whom levels of N^ε-(carboxymethyl)lysine, N^ε-(carboxyethyl)lysine, pentosidine and other biomarkers were measured at baseline. The median follow-up duration was 12.3 (interquartile range 7.6–12.5) years.

During the course of follow-up, 82 individuals (24.2%) died; 85 (25.1%) suffered a fatal (n = 48) and/or nonfatal (n = 53) CVD event. The incidence of fatal and nonfatal CVD and of all-cause mortality increased with higher baseline levels of AGEs independently of traditional CVD risk factors: hazard ratio (HR) = 1.30 (95% CI = 1.03–1.66) and HR = 1.27 (1.00–1.62), respectively. These associations were not attenuated after further adjustments for markers of renal or endothelial dysfunction, low-grade inflammation, or arterial stiffness.

Higher levels of AGEs are associated with incident fatal and nonfatal CVD as well as all-cause mortality in individuals with type 1 diabetes, independently of other risk factors and of several potential AGEs-related pathophysiological mechanisms. Thus, AGEs may explain, in part, the increased cardiovascular disease and mortality attributable to type 1 diabetes and constitute a specific target for treatment in these patients.