Impact of impaired fasting glucose and impaired glucose tolerance on arterial stiffness in an older Chinese population: the Guangzhou Biobank Cohort Study-CVD

The aim of the study was to compare the impact of impaired fasting glucose (IFG) and impaired glucose tolerance (IGT) on vascular function among older Chinese people. A random sample of 671 men and 603 women aged 50 to 85 years without known diabetes from the Guangzhou Biobank Study-CVD was examined in a cross-sectional study. Subjects with no previously confirmed or treated diabetes but with both fasting plasma glucose less than 5.6 mmol/L and 2-hour glucose from 7.8 to less than 11.0 mmol/L were classified as having isolated IGT, and those with no previously confirmed and treated diabetes but with both fasting plasma glucose from 5.6 to less than 7.0 mmol/L and 2-hour glucose less than 7.8 mmol/L were classified as having isolated IFG. A total of 11.0% of the men and 8.6% of the women had isolated IFG, and 17.7% of the men and 18.6% of the women had isolated IGT. The brachial-ankle pulse wave velocity and pulse pressure were increased in both the isolated IFG and isolated IGT subjects compared with the normoglycemia group (both Ps < .001). Compared with subjects with isolated IFG, those with isolated IGT appeared to have a higher age- and sex-adjusted brachial-ankle pulse wave velocity (1543 ± 22 vs 1566 ± 17, P = .07) and to be more insulin resistant (2-hour postload insulin: 54.2 ± 2.13 vs 26.8 ± 2.99 μU/mL, P < .001), had a worse lipid profile (apolipoprotein [apo] B: 1.07 ± 0.02 vs 0.97 ± 0.02g/L, P < .001; apo B/apo A-1 ratio: 0.80 ± 0.02 vs 0.69 ± 0.02, P < .001), but had lower glycosylated hemoglobin levels (6.03% ± 0.06% vs 5.86% ± 0.04%, P < .001) (values are mean ± SE). Subjects with isolated IGT had greater arterial stiffness, probably as a result of being more insulin resistant, with a worse lipid profile than those with isolated IFG. The sole use of fasting glucose level to identify prediabetic people would fail to identify a significant proportion of the at-risk population.