Postload plasma glucose and 30-year mortality among nondiabetic middle-aged men from the general population: the ERFORT Study.
OBJECTIVE
The purpose of the study is to examine for the first time the association between 1-hour postload plasma glucose levels and known diabetes and 30-year total mortality.


METHODS
The population-based Erfurt Male Cohort Study of 1160 men aged 40 to 59 years was carried out between September 1973 and August 1975. A 1-hour postload venous blood sample was obtained after an oral glucose tolerance test in all nondiabetic subjects. Mortality follow-up continued until death or September 30, 2003.


RESULTS
Only 25 subjects were lost to follow-up, but 595 study participants (51.3%) died. Survival curves for persons with diabetes, subjects with postload glucose levels greater than 200 mg/dL, and those with not elevated levels already start to diverge after 2 years in persons with diabetes, but only after 5 years in subjects with high postload glucose levels. After 30 years of follow-up, men with diabetes had an almost twofold risk for death (hazard ratio [HR], 1.94; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.26-2.97) and men with a postload plasma glucose level greater than 200 mg/dL had a 1.5-fold increased risk for death (HR, 1.49; 95% CI, 1.17-1.88) compared with men in the lower-glucose-level group, even after multivariable adjustment.


CONCLUSIONS
Postload hyperglycemia is a long-term predictor for all-cause mortality in middle-aged men without diabetes from the general population.
Meisinger
Christa
C
Central Hospital of Augsburg, Monitoring Trenus and Determinants in Cardiovascular Disease/Cooperative Health Research in the Region of Augsburg, Myocardial Infarction Registry, Augsburg, Germany. christa.meisinger@gsf.de
Wölke
Gabriele
G
Brasche
Sabine
S
Strube
Gert
G
Heinrich
Joachim
J
D000328:Adult; D001786:Blood Glucose; D015331:Cohort Studies; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D005858:Germany / Q000453:epidemiology; D005951:Glucose Tolerance Test; D006801:Humans; D006943:Hyperglycemia / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000401:mortality*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests
D001786:Blood Glucose