Relationship between creatinine to body weight ratios and diabetes mellitus: A Chinese cohort study

BACKGROUND: Research on the relationship between creatinine to body weight ratios (Cre/BW ratios) and the prevalence of diabetes is still lacking. The intention of this research was to explore the potential relationship between Cre/BW ratio and diabetes prevalence in Chinese adults. METHODS: This retrospective study was conducted on 199 526 patients in the Chinese Rich Healthcare Group from 2010 to 2016. The participants were divided into four groups on the basis of the quartiles of the Cre/BW ratios. Multivariate multiple imputation and dummy variables were used to handle missing values. Multivariate regression analysis was applied to detect the relationship between Cre/BW and diabetes. A smoothing plot was also used to identify whether there were nonlinear relationships. RESULTS: After handling missing values and adjusting for potential confounders, the multivariate Cox regression analysis results showed that Cre/BW was inversely correlated with diabetes risk (hazard ratio [HR]: 0.268; 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.229–0.314, p < 0.00001). For men, the HR of incident diabetes was 0.255 (95% CI: 0.212–0.307) and for women it was 0.297 (95% CI: 0.218–0.406). Moreover, sensitivity analysis confirmed the stability of the results. Furthermore, the smoothing plot revealed that there was a saturation effect between Cre/BW and the incidence of diabetes. CONCLUSIONS: This study demonstrated that increased Cre/BW is negatively correlated with diabetes in Chinese adults. It also found that Cre/BW has a nonlinear relationship with the incidence of diabetes.