Association of Prediabetes With CKD Progression and Adverse Cardiovascular Outcomes: An Analysis of the CRIC Study.

PURPOSE: Despite our understanding of diabetes as an established risk factor for progressive kidney disease and cardiac complications, the prognostic significance of prediabetes in patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD) remains largely unknown. METHODS: Participants of the Chronic Renal Insufficiency Cohort (CRIC) were categorized as having normoglycemia, prediabetes, or diabetes according to fasting plasma glucose, glycated hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c), and treatment with antidiabetic drugs at baseline. Unadjusted and adjusted proportional hazards models were fit to estimate the association of prediabetes and diabetes (versus normoglycemia) with: (1) composite renal outcome (end-stage renal disease, 50% decline in estimated glomerular filtration rate to ≤ 15 mL/min/1.73 m2, or doubling of urine protein-to-creatinine ratio to ≥ 0.22 g/g creatinine); (2) composite cardiovascular (CV) outcome (congestive heart failure, myocardial infarction or stroke); and (3) all-cause mortality. RESULTS: Of the 3701 individuals analyzed, 945 were normoglycemic, 847 had prediabetes and 1909 had diabetes. The median follow-up was 7.5 years. Prediabetes was not associated with the composite renal outcome (adjusted hazard ratio [aHR] 1.13; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.96-1.32; P = 0.14), but was associated with proteinuria progression (aHR 1.23; 95% CI, 1.03-1.47; P = 0.02). Prediabetes was associated with a higher risk of the composite CV outcome (aHR 1.38; 95% CI, 1.05-1.82; P = 0.02) and a trend towards all-cause mortality (aHR 1.28; 95% CI, 0.99-1.66; P = 0.07). Participants with diabetes had an increased risk of the composite renal outcome, the composite CV outcome, and all-cause mortality. CONCLUSIONS: In individuals with CKD, prediabetes was not associated with composite renal outcome, but was associated with an increased risk of proteinuria progression and adverse CV outcomes.

Lower free triiodothyronine levels within the reference range are associated with higher cardiovascular mortality: An analysis of the NHANES.

BACKGROUND: Thyroid hormones play a central role in cardiovascular homeostasis. Lower free triiodothyronine (FT3) levels have been associated with worse prognosis in several conditions. However, contrary to thyrotropin (TSH) and free thyroxine (FT4), the role of FT3 in morbidity and mortality in the general population remains uncertain. Our objective was to evaluate the association between within the normal range FT3 levels and mortality in the general population. METHODS: We evaluated 7116 adults in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) 2001-2002, 2007-2008, and 2009-2010 cycles with mortality evaluated as of December 2011. Exclusion criteria were: pregnancy; history of thyroid disease; use of thyroid-related drugs; and TSH, FT4, or FT3 level outside the reference range. RESULTS: During a median follow-up of 45 months, 357 participants died. In unadjusted analysis, lower FT3 levels were associated with higher all-cause (HR per 0.1 pg/mL increase in FT3: 0.82 [95% confidence interval, 0.78-0.87]), cardiovascular (HR 0.74 [0.66-0.83]), cancer-related (HR 0.88 [0.80-0.97]) and other cause-related mortality (HR 0.83 [0.77-0.90]). After adjustment with Cox proportional hazard models, lower FT3 levels remained significantly associated with higher cardiovascular mortality (HR 0.83 [0.75-0.93]), but not with all-cause (HR 0.97 [0.92-1.02]), cancer-related (HR 1.02 [0.89-1.17]), or other cause-related mortality (HR 1.00 [0.92-1.10]). CONCLUSIONS: Lower levels of FT3 within the reference range may independently predict higher cardiovascular mortality in the general population.