Usefulness of fasting plasma glucose to predict mortality or coronary heart disease in persons > or = 60 years of age without diabetes mellitus or in those with undiagnosed diabetes mellitus (from The Dubbo Study).

Description

Since the relationship between fasting plasma glucose (in the nondiabetic range) and the risk of mortality and coronary heart disease (CHD) is unclear, investigators of the Dubbo Study sought to determine whether fasting plasma glucose predicts all-cause mortality or CHD in a cohort of about 2,500 senior citizens (aged >60 years) without diabetes and in individuals with diabetes followed for 16-year. The prognostic importance for survival or CHD risk was different in men than in women. In nondiabetic men with fasting blood glucose <6.0 mmol/l, there was little or no prognostic importance in terms of survival or CHD risk, even in men with previous cardiovascular disease. However, in nondiabetic women (5.28-6.0 mmol/l) with previous cardiovascular disease, fasting plasma glucose was a significant predictor of mortality and CHD. In women with undiagnosed diabetes, fasting plasma glucose predicted mortality but not CHD, independent of the presence/absence of previous cardiovascular disease. Based on these results, measurement of fasting plasma glucose in predicting mortality and CHD risk may be beneficial only in women, but other studies will have to be performed to corroborate these findings.