Changes in Fasting plasma glucose status and risk of mortality events in individuals without diabetes over two decades of Follow-up: a pooled cohort analysis

BACKGROUND: We aimed to assess the gender-specific impact of 3-year changes in fasting plasma glucose (FPG) status on the risk of all-cause, cardiovascular (CV), and cancer mortality in individuals without type 2 diabetes (T2DM) during an 18-year follow-up. METHODS: The study population included 14,378 participants aged 30–60 years (8272 women) from three population-based cohort studies, including Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities, Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis, and Tehran Lipid and Glucose Study. Subjects were classified into six categories based on the approximately three-year changes in FPG status: (1) normal FPG (NFG) to NFG (reference category); (2) NFG to impaired fasting glucose (IFG) (i.e., 126 > FPG ≥ 100 mg/dl); (3) NFG to T2DM; (4) IFG to NFG; (5) IFG to IFG; (6) IFG to T2DM. Multivariable stratified Cox regression, adjusting for age, body mass index (BMI), BMI-Change, smoking status, hypertension, and hypercholesterolemia was used to estimate hazard ratios (HRs (95% CI)) for all-cause and cause-specific mortality events. Women-to-men ratios of HRs (RHRs) for each category were also estimated. RESULTS: During follow-up, 2,362 all-cause mortality events were recorded. Among women, all categories of FPG change, excluding IFG-NFG (HR, 95%CI 1.24 (0.98–1.57), p = 0.07), were associated with a higher risk of all-cause mortality compared to the NFG-NFG category. Moreover, women in IFG-T2DM group were at increased risk for CV mortality (2.21 (1.42–3.44)). We also found that women in NFG-IFG (1.52 (1.20–1.91)), NFG-T2DM (2.90 (1.52–5.51)), and IFG-IFG (1.30 (1.02–1.66)) categories had a higher risk for cancer mortality. However, among men, a higher risk of all-cause mortality was found for only two groups of NFG-T2DM (1.78 (1.15–2.74)) and IFG-T2DM (1.34 (1.04–1.72)). Women with IFG-IFG had a 24% higher risk for all-cause mortality events than their men counterparts (RHR; 1.24 (1.01–1.54)). After further adjustment for physical activity, results were in line with the main findings, excluding T2DM up to six years after the measurement period and early mortality events. CONCLUSION: In women, the IFG status, whether as incident, persistent, or converted to T2DM, had a higher risk for mortality events; however, among men, only conversion to T2DM conferred an excess risk of all-cause mortality. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12933-022-01709-z.