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

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).

[Prevalence of impaired fasting glucose in a working population of Spanish Mediterranean area: influence of sociodemographic variables and healthy habits]. / Prevalencia de glucemia basal alterada (GBA) en población laboral del área mediterránea española: Influencia de variables sociodemográficas y hábitos saludables.

INTRODUCTION: The impaired fasting glucose (IFG) is an intermediate clinical situation between normal glucose and type 2 diabetes, it is known that 25% of people with IFG progress to type 2 diabetes. METHODS: Descriptive study in 60,798 Spanish workers. The IFG was determined using the American Diabetes Association (ADA) criteria: 100-125 mg/dl and the World Health Organization (WHO) criteria: 110-125 mg/dl. The influence of sociodemographic variables (age, sex, social class, studies class) and healthy habits (tobacco, alcohol consumption, physical activity, feeding) were evaluated in the IFG prevalence. RESULTS: The IFG prevalence was 3.3% (1.8% in women and 4.5% in men) using the WHO criteria and 11.8% (7% in women and 15.4% in men) using the ADA criteria. The IFG is more common in men and increases with age. People with low socioeconomic status (social classes IV and V, blue collar and primary studies) and poor health habits (smokers, heavy alcohol consumption and low physical activity) have a higher prevalence. CONCLUSIONS: The sociodemographic variables and the healthy habits, except consumption of fruits and vegetables, influence the prevalence of IFG.