Prediabetes linked to higher risk of cardiovascular problems

Even slightly elevated blood sugar levels — a condition known as prediabetes — may raise the risk of cardiovascular problems, according to new research.

For the study, researchers looked at the glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c) levels of 427,435 people from the UK Biobank, a large database of health information in the United Kingdom. HbA1c values represent a person's average blood sugar levels for the previous three months.

Over a median follow-up period of nearly 12 years, the researchers found that people with prediabetes at the start of the study faced a greater risk of various cardiovascular problems, including coronary artery disease, stroke, and heart failure, compared with people whose HbA1c was normal. (In the UK, an HbA1c of 5.9% or less is considered normal, while in the United States, less than 5.7% is normal.)

As expected, people with diabetes, both undiagnosed and diagnosed, were at even greater risk — especially women. When the researchers accounted for factors such as obesity and use of medications to lower blood pressure and cholesterol, the excess risk from elevated blood sugar was reduced. That means attention to weight loss and greater use of those medications is important to counter overall risk, say the authors, whose findings were published September 2023 in The Lancet Regional Health.

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