CVD Risks Associated with Various Levels of Glycemia

Diabetes is considered a marker of cardiovascular risk, but to what extent should we be concerned about patients with HbA_1c levels below diabetes thresholds? Investigators used data from the UK Biobank, a prospective, population-based cohort study, to assess the association of a baseline HbA_1c and diabetes status with the risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD) and chronic kidney disease (CKD) in some 335,000 UK residents (55% women) aged 40 to 69 who did not have type 1 diabetes or cardiovascular or kidney disease at enrollment. They defined type 2 diabetes (3.8% of the cohort) as self-reported disease, an HbA_1c ≥6.5%, or use of insulin; prediabetes (13.9% of the cohort) was an HbA_1c ≥5.7% and <6.5%.

During a median follow-up of 11 years, athe…