Relationship between blood glucose levels and cardiovascular risk in the Spanish Mediterranean population

Abstract

Background/aim: Diabetes is associated with an increased prevalence of cardiovascular disease. Impaired fasting glucose (IFG) is an intermediate clinical situation between normal glucose levels and type 2 diabetes. The aim of this study is to determine how fasting glucose concentrations affect different cardiovascular risk scales. Materials and methods: A descriptive study was conducted with 59,041 Mediterranean Spanish workers. IFG was determined using the American Diabetes Association (ADA) and the World Health Organization (WHO) criteria. Different indicators of cardiovascular risk were analyzed: body mass index, waist circumference, waist-to-height ratio, blood pressure, lipid parameters, atherogenic indices, metabolic syndrome, and various scales of cardiovascular risk such as REGICOR, DORICA, SCORE, Heart Age, and Vascular Age. Results: All cardiovascular scales showed statistically significant differences between the IFG group and the normal glucose group. In all cases, values were worse in the IFG group; furthermore, men exhibited more unfavorable levels of cardiovascular risk factors than women. Higher odds ratio values were present in employees with metabolic syndrome according to ATP III criteria (9.42, 95% CI: 8.56-10.37 using WHO criteria and 9.25, 95% CI: 8.67-9.87 using ADA criteria). Conclusions: IFG increases cardiovascular risk whether using classical scales (REGICOR, SCORE, and metabolic syndrome) or other less studied scales (atherogenic indices, Heart Age, and Vascular Age).