Sex differences occur before adolescence for arterial diameter, but only at an adult age for intima-media thickness. In young subjects, carotid geometry seems to be influenced by blood pressure and excess body weight, while femoral artery geometry seems to be related to blood pressure and body growth.

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OBJECTIVE -Previous studies have related poor glycemic control and/or some diabetes complications to low socioeconomic status. Some aspects of socioeconomic status have not been assessed in these studies. In the present study, we used an individual index of deprivation, the Evaluation de la Précarité et des Inégalités de santé dans les Centres d'Examens de Santé (Evaluation of Precarity and Inequalities in Health Examination Centers [EPICES]) score, to determine the relationship among glycemic control, diabetes complications, and individual conditions of deprivation.RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS -We conducted a cross-sectional prevalence study in 135 consecutive diabetic patients (age 59.41 Ϯ 13.2 years [mean Ϯ SD]) admitted in the hospitalization unit of a French endocrine department. Individual deprivation was assessed by the EPICES score, calculated from 11 socioeconomic questions. Glycemic control, lipid levels, blood pressure, retinopathy, neuropathy, and nephropathy were assessed.RESULTS -HbA 1c level was significantly correlated with the EPICES score (r ϭ 0.366, P Ͻ 0.001). The more deprived patients were more likely than the less deprived patients to have poor glycemic control (␤ ϭ 1.984 [SE 0.477], P Ͻ 0.001), neuropathy (odds ratio 2.39 [95% CI 1.05-5.43], P ϭ 0.037), retinopathy (3.66 [1.39 -9.64], P ϭ 0.009), and being less often admitted for 1-day hospitalization (0.32 [0.14 -0.74], P ϭ 0.008). No significant relationship was observed with either nephropathy or cardiovascular risk factors.CONCLUSIONS -Deprivation status is associated with poor metabolic control and more frequent microvascular complications, i.e., retinopathy and neuropathy. The medical and economic burden of deprived patients is high.

The individual deprivation EPICES score is reliable. Deprivation was related to excess death rate, which clearly indicates that deprivation is a determinant factor that should be considered systematically by health policy makers and health-care providers.

The main objective of the Stanislas cohort is to study the role and the contribution of genetic and environmental factors to cardiovascular status. We plan: a) to describe the degree of association of a large number of cardiovascular risk indicators with cardiovascular endpoints, b) to evaluate the contribution of genetic and that of environmental factors to this association, c) to follow the evolution of these risk indicators during a period of at least ten years, d) to search for the determinants influencing this evolution. The principal variables studied are: a) blood pressure, cardiac mass, and wall thickness of carotid and femoral arteries, b) obesity and fat mass, c) indicators of lipid metabolism, d) genetic polymorphisms of several cardiovascular risk candidate genes, e) food, tobacco and alcohol consumption, f) consumption of drugs and anti-oxidant vitamins. Between September 1993 and August 1995, 1006 families consisting of the two biological parents with at least two children were recruited totalling 4295 individuals. This cohort will be followed up until 2004. There will be two health examinations five and ten years after the initial examination. A bank of blood samples (serum and plasma) in liquid nitrogen and DNA (-80 degrees C) has been established.