Associations of the Gap Between 2-Hour Post-Load Plasma Glucose and Fasting Blood Glucose With All-Cause or Cardiovascular Mortality in US Normoglycemic Adults

Abstract

Background

The gap between 2-hour post-load plasma glucose (2 h PG) and fasting blood glucose (FBG) has been shown to be informative of the risk of developing prediabetes and diabetes. We aimed to examine the significance of the gap between 2 h PG and FBG in relation to all-cause or cardiovascular disease (CVD) mortality in normoglycemic adults.

Methods

3611 normoglycemic participants from the 2005–2016 US National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey were included and dichotomized into the low (2 h PG ≤ FBG) and high post-load (2 h PG > FBG) groups. Associations of the gap between 2 h PG and FBG with all-cause or CVD mortality were evaluated with Kaplan-Meier curves, Cox proportional hazard ratio, and subgroup analysis.

Results

The mean age was 38.80 years, with a male prevalence of 43.59%. Finally, 1746 (50.22%) and 1865 (49.78%) participants were categorized into the low and high post-load groups, respectively. During a median follow-up of 107 months, 130 deaths (36 CVD-related) occurred. Kaplan-Meier curves showed significantly higher all-cause and CVD mortality rates in the high post-load group compared with the low post-load group. The hazard ratio and 95% confidence interval for all-cause and CVD mortality in the high post-load group were 1.816 (1.149–2.870) and 2.302 (1.052–5.038), respectively, with the low post-load group as the reference. The results were robust and consistent in the sensitivity and subgroup analyses.

Conclusion

The gap between 2 h PG and FBG may be potentially useful for predicting the risk of all-cause and CVD mortality in US normoglycemic adults.