Background

We investigated the associations between fasting glucose level ranges with lifestyle factors and metabolic profiles among adults without previous diagnosis of diabetes.

Methods

We analyzed 13,625 adults without previous diagnosis of diabetes from the Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey during 2016-2018. We categorized fasting glucose levels (mg/dL) as follows: <90, 90-99, 100-109, 110-124, and ≥125. We evaluated trends in the proportions of individuals with obesity, abdominal, obesity, current smoking, heavy drinking, and low physical activity according to these categories, and the odds for uncontrolled BP, LDL-C, TG, and HDL-C for each fasting glucose level compared to a fasting glucose level of <90 mg/dL.

Results

The proportions of individuals with obesity, abdominal obesity, and heavy drinking increased according to fasting glucose level (p for trend <0.05). The odds for BP ≥140/90 mmHg, TG ≥150 mg/dL, HDL-C <40 mg/dL in men and HDL-C <50 mg/dL in women increased with increasing fasting glucose levels; however, and the odds for LDL-C ≥130 mg/dL increased with increasing fasting glucose levels only in women. The increases in odds for uncontrolled BP and lipid profiles were mostly observed for fasting glucose levels ≥90 mg/dL.

Conclusions

Efforts are needed to prevent increased fasting glucose levels, as higher levels, even within normal range, were associated with poor metabolic profiles.