Glycated Hemoglobin is a Better Predictor than Fasting Glucose for Cardiometabolic Risk in Non-diabetic Korean Women

Abstract

This study aimed to investigate if glycated hemoglobin (HgbA1C) as compared to fasting blood glucose is better for reflecting cardiometabolic risk in non-diabetic Korean women. Fasting glucose, HgbA1C and lipid profiles were measured in non-diabetic women without disease (n = 91). The relationships of fasting glucose or HgbA1C with anthropometric parameters, lipid profiles, and liver and kidney functions were analyzed. Both fasting glucose and HgbA1C were negatively correlated with HDL-cholesterol (r = -0.287, p = 0.006; r = -0.261, p = 0.012), and positively correlated with age (r = 0.202, p = 0.008; r = 0.221, p = 0.035), waist circumference (r = 0.296, p = 0.005; r = 0.304, p = 0.004), diastolic blood pressure (DBP) (r = 0.206, p = 0.050; r = 0.225, p = 0.032), aspartate transaminase (AST) (r = 0.237, p = 0.024; r = 0.368, p < 0.0001), alanine transaminase (ALT) (r = 0.296, p = 0.004; r = 0.356, p = 0.001), lipid profiles including triglyceride (r = 0.372, p < 0.001; r = 0.208, p = 0.008), LDL-cholesterol (r = 0.315, p = 0.002; r = 0.373, p < 0.0001) and total cholesterol (r = 0.310, p = 0.003; r = 0.284, p = 0.006). When adjusted for age and body mass index, significant relationships of DBP (r = 0.190, p = 0.049), AST (r = 0.262, p = 0.018), ALT (r = 0.277, p = 0.012), and HDL-cholesterol (r = -0.202, p = 0.049) with HgbA1C were still retained, but those with fasting glucose disappeared. In addition, the adjusted relationships of LDL-cholesterol and total cholesterol with HgbA1C were much greater than those with fasting glucose. These results suggest that glycated hemoglobin may be a better predictor than fasting glucose for cardiometabolic risk in non-diabetic Korean women.

Diabetes, Glycated Hemoglobin, and Risk of Cancer in the UK Biobank Study

“…Glycated haemoglobin reflects the average glucose concentration over a period of 2-3 months (6), can be measured in a non-fasting state, has high repeatability, and is not affected by daily glucose fluctuation. Therefore, it is considered to be a more stable marker of glucose level than fasting glucose and a better predictor of vascular and cardiometabolic disease risk even among nondiabetic individuals (7). Data on the association of HbA1c with cancer are limited to the most frequently occurring malignancies and suggest positive associations between HbA1c and risk of colorectal, pancreatic, respiratory and female genital tract cancers (5,(8)(9)(10).…”

Glycative Stress, Glycated Hemoglobin, and Atherogenic Dyslipidemia in Patients with Hyperlipidemia

“…A previous study in Korea raised the importance of glycated hemoglobin as a predictor for cardiometabolic risk in nondiabetic women, which demonstrated better performance than fasting glucose [10]. However, related evidence derived from large-scale research in Taiwan is scarce.…”

Glycated Hemoglobin and Cancer Risk in Korean Adults: Results from Korean Genome and Epidemiology Study

“…Our study is novel because unlike the majority of other studies, we examined the association between HbA1c and cancer, and not diabetes or cardiovascular diseases. Furthermore, as commented previously, the HbA1c is an integrated indicator of average blood glucose concentrations over a period of 6–8 weeks [ 24 ], and HbA1c level is more robust than the fasting glucose level as an independent biomarker [ 9 25 ].…”